Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I will vote in support of the Bill. Recording the carbon footprint on the labelling of products would represent a small step forward. It is something large numbers of ordinary people will respond to. The point has to be made that a measure such as this is a drop in the bucket. I support it. Let us get it done, but there are much bigger issues that we need to address such as free public transport for all, a massive State programme to retrofit homes, a four-day working week with a 32-hour maximum, a massive State programme for green jobs and green energy, and a ban on new fossil fuel projects, including LNG in east Cork and at Shannon.

The weekend before last, I travelled to Glasgow to take part in the magnificent COP protests. Inside the conference hall, there were more than 500 accredited visitors from the fossil fuel industry, many of them part of national delegations, including the Canadian and Russian delegations. It was a scandal. It is akin to letting arms dealers into a peace conference. Outside on the streets, we had the future. Many of the 100,000 people there, mainly young, were pointing an accusing finger at corporate capitalism and the governments whose strings they pull. That movement can grow into a force that goes beyond just pointing the finger at capitalism to challenging the very rule of that system. My sincere hope is that it will grow into a movement of hundreds of millions in the years ahead.

I will support this Bill but, let us be clear, it is a drop in the bucket. Much bigger mountains need to be climbed in this battle in the time ahead.

See this speech in context