Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

European Heads of Government considered their approach to COP27 when they met in October. As it turned out, the EU played a crucial role at COP27. The Taoiseach addressed the conference on 8 November and outlined Ireland's position, which highlighted the importance of climate justice. As we know, COP27 has now concluded with a final agreement reached after prolonged negotiations. The agreement includes texts that finally recognise loss and damage caused by climate change. This is a breakthrough, although much work remains to be done in implementing the goal of setting up funding provisions. However, the final agreement, as we heard, contains nothing new as regards emissions targets or the phasing out of fossil fuels. The Taoiseach has already answered many questions on COP27 but does he agree that this latter point is disappointing? How does he view the outcome of COP27 generally? Does he agree that the EU Green Deal should continue to be central to our approach to these issues and that the block should be a leader globally in tackling them?

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