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

I join others in welcoming last week's Youth Assembly on the issue of climate action. It was a very positive and constructive occasion. We should also acknowledge the ongoing work of Comhairle na nÓg and Dáil na nÓg, which this network convenes.

We should all value the fact there are so many young people out there - we meet them in our constituencies - who are willing to spend time on constructive and focused discussions regarding issues that are central to today and the future.

On the climate action plan, suspicions that the Government was primarily interested in rolling out a pre-election marketing effort rather than showing genuine urgency have unfortunately been proven correct. A party that formally abandoned ambitious climate plans eight years ago has made a deathbed conversion and is investing heavily in trying to convince people that it is paying attention. The plan was launched close enough to the election in order to have claims made about what is being done but without enough time to find out if this is yet another area, like housing, in respect of which there is a systematic failure on the part of Ministers to deliver on clear commitments. The obsessive party politics and manoeuvring and campaigning the Government is driven by were obvious recently with the visit of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, and other Ministers to the midlands, during which he and Fine Gael candidates used official meetings to promote the just transition fund as if it was their own. I recall the Taoiseach arguing strongly against the idea of having a ring-fenced fund at all. The exclusion of Deputy Cowen, whose work and perseverance on the issue of a just transition fund is one of the key reasons it was created in the first instance, reflects badly on the Government and on its style and approach. This is a reminder that, throughout its time in office, there are examples of Fine Gael breaking all established principles on the barriers between public events and party activity.

I have asked the Taoiseach directly on a number of occasions about the climate action plans relating to the electric vehicles that will be on our roads by the end of the next decade. He has always brushed the issue off but a range of independent commentators have stated that if the target in this regard is to be met from next year onwards, we would have to have a situation where nearly every new car sold would at least be a plug-in hybrid. Can the Taoiseach tell us whether he has reviewed this criticism of the target relating to electric vehicles? Does he reject or accept the analysis that the target will not be met without some, as of yet unannounced, dramatic initiative? If the Taoiseach accepts the analysis, can he outline his proposals to deal with that issue? Nobody believes that it is a realistic or achievable target.

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