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

I join with colleagues in condemning yesterday's brutal attack on the young child in Navan. I express my sympathy and solidarity on behalf of Labour with the family and young boy concerned. I hope he makes a speedy recovery. It was an appalling attack. We all join in sympathy with him and his family.

Yesterday, we learned that global temperatures are likely to surge to record levels in the next five years according to the World Meteorological Organization. This rise in temperature is fuelled by heat-trapping greenhouse gases that come from our continued overreliance on fossil fuels. There is a high likelihood that temperatures will rise well above the 1.5°C limit set in the Paris Agreement to which this State signed up.

We know now there is a 98% chance that at least one of the next five years will be the warmest ever recorded on this planet. Time is running out for our environment. We in Ireland - the land of rain and clouds - all too often dismiss the impact of global warming or think it will not happen to us and will not be felt here and that the effects of climate change will be felt by other people. Of course, that is not the case. The impacts will and are being felt here. In Dublin, while we are fortunate to be a stone’s throw from the sea but increasing temperatures and climate change mean that sea levels will rise and many of our seafront communities, including those in my own constituency, will be hit with destructive flooding for which we are totally unprepared.

I did not come here to fearmonger or scaremonger on climate. I came here to ask the Government to do more to address the reality of climate change because Irish emissions are continuing to soar despite the looming catastrophe. According to EUROSTAT, Ireland had the largest increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union last year. It was one of just four EU countries to increase emissions annually at a time when we are all committed to reducing emissions.

The Government has sought to make excuses and deflect from these figures, but the reality is that while other European countries like Finland took proactive steps to cut their usage of gas, for example, we did nothing. We knew this was coming but rather than invest in climate infrastructure that could see a reduced reliance on fossil fuels, the Government has been pouring taxpayers' money into paying for carbon credits at a time when we could be a leader in reducing reliance on gas through developing our great natural resource and developing our offshore wind capacity. We are lagging behind on that.

There are actions we could be taking today to begin a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. We can reduce our reliance on gas, like they did in Finland, by ramping up our offshore wind generation capacity. Last week's option was a welcome step, but it is simply not enough. Second, we could introduce many more measures on reducing gas emissions from cars. A punitive tax on gas-guzzling SUVs, like that introduced in France, would be one practical step for which we in Labour have advocated, just as we advocated for a €9 euro climate ticket that would be valid on all public transport and could take thousands of cars off the roads and reduce costs for families and households while proactively reducing our emissions. I ask the Tánaiste to take up these constructive steps that would have a real impact on enabling us to meet our climate targets.

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