Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, we discovered that one factory, Dairygold in Mitchelstown, emitted more carbon last year than the entire population of the town in which it is based. We discovered that 100 factories, power plants, airlines etc. emitted nearly 25 million tonnes of CO2 and greenhouse gases last year, which is more than one third of the total for the entire State. This includes Ryanair, Irish Cement, Aer Lingus, Bord Gáis and Energia - I could go on. If and when, and currently it looks more like when, the State fails to reach its carbon emission targets, and the European Union imposes potentially very heavy fines on the State, will the Government knock on the doors of the big business polluters to pay those fines or will it make the poor bloody taxpayer pay once again?

See this speech in context