Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I greatly appreciate what the Deputy stated. I, too, have visited several schools in my constituency to observe what they have done of their own accord under the green flag scheme or in dealing with other issues they have identified. The other day I visited a junior school where I met the green committee which comprised senior infants pupils and discussed what they encouraged their parents to do to change their behaviour to support the work on climate action and change. I, therefore, accept the Deputy's point and agree with it. My initial response emphasised that there were structures, not just at school level, as the Deputy noted, but also at local level that fed into what was happening at national level where we have listened to the voices of young people. They have identified climate change as their main issue and specific actions that they want to take and which they also want adults to take. We want to find a way to establish, as part of that process and across government, tapping into various Departments, an ongoing forum to enable a gathering of young people to have deeper engagement with parliamentarians in a way that will continue to influence what we decide to do and that will help them to stay ahead of us.

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