Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We touched on this yesterday in committee and to be fair to Deputy Bruton, he has been a remarkably consistent voice in this area for a long time, including when he served as a Minister. He put in place Ireland's first proper structures for responding to the climate challenge. To be fair, we are moving from being in a poor position in this area relative to other European countries to a much better place. However, we have a distance to travel yet in terms of how we manage, reduce and recycle waste, how we produce energy and how we use natural resources to do that in a clean way, and in our overall approach towards the circular economy. This is more than just a climate strategy; it is a public health strategy as well. We are pursuing much more sustainable approaches now that will enable us to improve our performance and meet the targets that we have set for ourselves, thus placing Ireland in a much better position vis-à-vis other European countries in the context of the circular economy.

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