Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State's reply was almost as brief as the contribution of the other Minister of State. What I am saying is not personal. If the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, was not here because he is sick, I will understand and accept it; however, if we see him around the House today or this evening, we will be very annoyed. We tabled this motion in good faith, as we are entitled to do as elected Teachtaí Dála and members of a registered technical group in this House. We are not going to take any lectures from the Government and certainly not from Deputy Bacik, the leader of the Labour Party, or Deputy Bríd Smith, nor will we take any from Deputy Jennifer Whitmore of the Social Democrats. I also welcomed the school tour that was here today. To think that we would be in any way disparaging or disappoint schoolchildren is incorrect. We regularly bring in school tours here from our constituencies and all over.

The problem we have at the moment is groupthink. If you think outside the box and even offer to do so, be wise and be careful so as not to cut off our noses to spite our faces, you are demonised as a climate-change denier. We are no such thing. I resent Deputy Bacik's comments that our motion or speeches were written by an oil or gas company. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Deputy might want to look closer at the connections her party has had with business interests and everything else over the years, not with us here.

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