Dáil debates

Tuesday, 14 May 2019

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

3:10 pm

Photo of Catherine ConnollyCatherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The report has singled out that one city should be picked. It was in that context that I raised Galway.

On security, in February, the then Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Philip Lane, warned that if the pace of transition to a low-carbon economy was too slow, a sharper adjustment would ultimately be required, posing macroeconomic and financial stability risks. We have any number of warnings.

I do not think the Taoiseach meant it but if he is telling us that the declaration of emergency last week was symbolic, then we are in serious trouble. I will go back again to the concept of cognitive dissonance. There is something seriously amiss if this is what the Taoiseach thinks this is about. A declaration of an emergency was forced upon us by any number of reports and the actions of our children whose futures we are compromising.

I specifically asked in Irish for an action plan, following on from that emergency declaration, to be brought before us as a matter of urgency. It has national implications. Within that, I asked that Galway city be picked as the project which will show the way forward, given that it has all the ingredients, as it is destined to record 50% growth within the footprint of the city which will feed public transport. My preference for Galway is light rail. At the very least, the Government should carry out a feasibility study if a climate change declaration of emergency is to mean anything.

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