Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join Deputies in welcoming the youth climate assembly, which was held in the Chamber last Friday. I recognise, in particular, the Ceann Comhairle and the team around him for taking the initiative and making it possible. Around the world, especially on Fridays, students have protested outside parliaments, and I am sure they will continue to do so. It is good that we were the first parliament in the world to invite in young people and students to make the recommendations they did. They made ten recommendations in total, which I have read. They were received personally by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, last Friday. The Government will examine them and respond to them in a reasoned and serious way. That will involve, no doubt, accepting some and implementing them, and it may involve not being able to accept others, particularly those that may not be in the competence of the Government, such as those that relate to international trade law.

One recommendation that struck me, and it was a learning for me, was in respect of refrigeration. One of the young people who attended pointed out we would never in our homes leave our fridge wide open. We have all been told since we were kids to close the fridge. We would never in our homes take the door off the fridge or leave the fridge wide open, yet we go into shops and supermarkets all the time and all we see is food on display in open fridges. That costs a great deal of money and involves a great deal of energy, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. That recommendation stuck out to me as an area in which, perhaps, we need to legislate to require businesses, shops and others to close fridges that are currently open.

On exploration, all I can say is what I have said before. Our policy is guided by scientific advice, specifically that of the Climate Action Advisory Council, which recommended we end exploration for oil but continue to explore for natural gas, as it is the cleanest fossil fuel part of the energy mix, probably until 2040-----

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