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

The report was stark, and I would welcome a debate on it in the House if that could be arranged through the Business Committee. The report probably did not get the attention it deserved because of the other world events happening at the moment. It says two things to us as a country. It reminds us not only that we need to press ahead and implement our climate action plan but also, even if we do fully implement our plan, that we share an environment with a world of 10 billion people and that many countries will not do what we will do. We also need to plan for adaption because, as the report indicates, a certain amount of climate change is now irreversible and further climate change is inevitable. We therefore need to step up our plans in implementing our climate action plan while also preparing for adaption because so much is beyond our control as a small country.

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