Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. One of the great takeaways from COP27 is the immediacy of climate change now. It is not something on the distant horizon and we have seen devastating weather events that can occur because of climate change. The presentations from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Somalia and the small island states of the Pacific all reveal the immediate consequences of this. Personal behaviour change is key. Collectively we need to focus on offshore wind energy, for example, the national retrofitting programme and the electric vehicle, EV, programme. We can make great progress. I was reading a book last evening and we sometimes forget the progress we have made on renewable energy with increases in onshore wind energy. I think it was 1% of electricity generation at the beginning of this century and it is close to 43% now. It is the same with recycling of plastic, for example, with the plastic bag levy. It shows that we can do it.

See this speech in context