Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

With respect, that reply is the kind of “blah, blah, blah” that Greta Thunberg has accused others of. We must be more precise and how we describe this. I am interested in establishing exactly what kind of metrics the Minister’s Department is going to apply in respect of approving those projects that will be significant in allowing us to meet our carbon reduction and emission goals more generally.

One of the projects, for example, that would allow us to do that which seems to be still on the blocks is the DART+ initiative, which will ultimately take the DART to my home town of Drogheda in the constituency of Louth and east Meath. The project seems to me to be a no-brainer and it strikes me that a strong climate-informed public spending code would see that project being initiated in earnest as soon as is humanly possible. I again ask the Minister when the reference cost of carbon will be changed and updated. We cannot wait until next year or the year after; we need to know now.

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