Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am well aware of the provisions of the legislation. The problem is the Government keeps missing deadlines on climate action. We have seen long delays in the publication of the climate action plan, although it is welcome we are going to see it today. However, it was promised last month. It was promised initially that it would be aligned with the fiscal budget. It is unfortunate it was not. There have been long delays. We are already well into the key decade in which we are to reduce our emissions by 51% by 2030. We are now nearly at the end of 2021. I know the Minister of State is more aware of this than any of us.

I welcome, as does the Labour Party, the ambition of the targets that we are setting, but we are concerned about inconsistencies and apparent problems with meeting those targets. We see today problems with how we will reach the targets on offshore wind. That is a serious concern, given how much we will be depending on offshore wind to generate a sufficient quantity of renewable energy. We are seeing inconsistency with methane target reductions. We are seeing the Taoiseach committing to 30%, which is welcome, yet only 10% being signed up to in the action plan. We are seeing concerns about a just transition, as houses are struggling to meet energy costs.

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