Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Earlier, the Taoiseach stated that the Dáil's declaration of a climate emergency was just symbolic. His statement is symbolic of the Government's approach to climate change. At a meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, last year, we discussed controversial comments by the head of Science Foundation Ireland in which he appeared to downplay the significance of the climate change issue. That was a cause of real concern. We raised our concerns at the time that Science Foundation Ireland's priorities were not focused on moving to a decarbonised economy. What has changed since then? What is changing? What does the Government intend to do, in conjunction with Science Foundation Ireland, to put decarbonisation centre stage in Ireland's research priorities. It is not central to those priorities now and there is no evidence that the position is changing.

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