Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The message contained in the results of the elections which took place on Friday demanding radical emergency measures to address the climate crisis was dramatic and unmistakable. The central demand of the global climate movement is to keep fossil fuels in the ground. All the science says that 80% of known reserves of fossil fuels must stay in the ground if we are to address the crisis. At the weekend, the Taoiseach promised that the Government would heed the message. In that context, I ask very simply whether the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment will now refuse the application under consideration in his Department from the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation and Exxon Mobil to drill for oil off the Kerry coast? If the Government is serious about climate change and dealing with the climate crisis as promised, will that application now be refused? To permit new drilling for oil off the Kerry coast is completely incompatible with any serious intent to deal with the climate crisis.

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