Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach again referred to the revised climate action plan due to be brought before Cabinet next week after the Dáil has risen.

I reiterate the concern I expressed earlier in the delay in the publication of this climate action plan. Indeed, it feels like Groundhog Day because the sectoral emissions ceiling earlier this year were not published until the Dáil had risen for the summer recess. There seems to be almost a strategy of delaying publication of these essential documents seeking to ensure that we meet our climate targets until after the Oireachtas has risen, thereby depriving us of the necessary scrutiny and debate. I renew an appeal to the Taoiseach to ensure that we will be publishing these climate action plans in the future in better time and not with the sort of delays we have seen to date.

I also raise with the Taoiseach a large question about economic investment, one of the largest capital projects of the State, namely, the national children's hospital. We have seen that the final bill while still unknown is likely to exceed €2 billion.

On the issue of the hospital itself, I am aware that the Taoiseach will be aware of the campaign to name the hospital after Dr. Kathleen Lynn. I lend my support to that campaign as Dr. Lynn was a suffragette and active participants in some of the key movements leading to the foundation of our State. We unveiled a portrait to her in the corridors of this House in the past week, a very worthy portrait. She was a trailblazer in so many ways, not least in her founding of St. Ultan's Children's Hospital in my constituency of Dublin Bay South back in 1919, and in her work to tackle poverty and disadvantage, especially for children. There could be no better person after whom to name the children's hospital than Dr. Lynn. We have named too many public buildings after men and I appeal to the Taoiseach, on his last session of Taoiseach’s Questions, to lend his support to the campaign to name the hospital after Dr. Kathleen Lynn.

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