Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the United Nations summit, the Taoiseach made an announcement to the effect that Ireland will no longer permit drilling for oil, even though we have never found any oil. As with most such initiatives, this was extensively briefed in advance to the media but not in enough time for serious questions to be asked. The Taoiseach got a bit touchy about this and demanded a right of reply when The Sunday Business Postpublished an article claiming that the announcement was little more than tokenistic. For all significant announcements about the environment, it is reasonable to assume that specific work will have been completed on defining the exact likely impact of each decision. In this context, can the Taoiseach outline the specific impact on Ireland’s climate change targets that the announcement about oil exploration is likely to have? When the much-delayed and over-hyped climate change plan was announced earlier this year, it was pointed out that the Government had not published any initiatives which were capable of delivering on some of the higher-profile targets. For example, the target of having 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030 requires that basically all new cars sold from today onwards be electric. That clearly is not happening. Anyone I have spoken to who knows anything about this matter has indicated that the target will be impossible to achieve. What specifically does the Taoiseach intend to propose in order to dramatically and immediately increase sales of electric vehicles? It he standing by this target but leaving it to another Government to figure out how to reach it?

See this speech in context