Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

All Members have been following the events this week at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, COP, at which the Taoiseach made some very ambitious commitments, but will his Government's climate actions match his climate rhetoric? The omens are not good. Yesterday, he stated that Ireland will sign a pledge to reduce methane emissions by 30% before hastily adding that this was a global target rather than a national one. We hear the climate action plan contains a target of just 10% reduction. The Tánaiste also referred to that 10% figure yesterday. Can the Taoiseach explain the purpose of publicly signing up to a 30% reduction target when it seems he has no intention of even attempting to achieve that? Will the kudos that he got be short-lived and will it ultimately just make the country look like it does not take its climate action obligations seriously? If every country did this, there would be zero chance of the target being met. Can the Taoiseach just be honest and straight with people about what is actually going to be done?

Ireland has the second-highest greenhouse gas emissions per person in the EU. Agriculture and transport account for the majority of emissions at 35% and 20%, respectively. It is clear that we have to focus on those two areas. The Government itself seems riven on the plan for agriculture. The Minister, Deputy Ryan, insists the national herd will decrease, while Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members have mysteriously started to use the word "stabilisation" whenever the national herd is mentioned. Which is it? Is it decrease or stabilisation?

In the context of transport, apparently the Government's climate action plan will state that car journeys need to be reduced by 25% to reach our targets. How can that happen in the absence of significant investment in public transport infrastructure? We are told that the metro project and DART+ are now not due to be delivered until 2034. Why is there such a lack of urgency from the Government in progressing large-scale projects such as these, which are absolutely essential? How credible will the Government's retrofitting scheme be, given the underperformance of the current one?

Why is the Taoiseach making commitments at COP that he copped out of as soon as the ink was dry on the agreement? Why should people have confidence in his ability to meet targets, given the lack of clarity and credibility in his existing plans? Does he have any real ambition to make the large-scale changes needed to climate-proof our economy and society?

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