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

One of the central demands of the young people who have led the fight for radical climate action is to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Scientists have indicated that we must keep 80% of known reserves in the ground if we are to have even a chance of not passing the tipping point as regards the climate overheating. The Government has tried to justify its decision to block People Before Profit's Planning and Development (Climate Measures) (Amendment) Bill 2019 by stating that gas is a transitional fuel. It has also used that rationale to justify promoting the liquid natural gas terminal at Shannon as one of the European projects of common interest. Does the Taoiseach have a comment on the fact that at the end of last week, the European Investment Bank, in contrast to the Government's approach to this matter, made a decision to stop financing all fossil fuel energy projects from 2021 including, importantly, those involving gas? It did so despite lobbying from a number of European Governments to the effect that a restriction on gas should not be imposed. The European Investment Bank is listening to the young people and the scientists and saying that we have to stop taking all fossil fuels out of the ground, stop exploring for them and stop building infrastructure, as the Government is proposing to do, to lock us into their use for years to come. Could the Government at least come up to the level of the European Investment Bank when it comes to seriously tackling climate change and fossil fuel use?

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