Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

No, I believe we should do the climate action plan at the same time each year. It is an iterative process. It requires a lot of work to be able to come up with real, practical solutions. One of the reasons for that is the whole issue of land use, which is probably one of the areas where there is the greatest shortfall. We have to update the plan to include targets on that. We held back on that last year because the science had changed quite significantly in advance of the drafting of the 2023 plan. A body of work will need to be done for us to be able to do that in December. It is better to take the time to do it and get it right. I mentioned that as one example.

I was not being rude there. I apologise to the Deputy. I was just asking my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, if we had received an update from Brussels on the EU Parliament vote. To my mind, that is an example of how we can go further, by combining benefits that give us nature-based solutions for biodiversity, as well as reducing emissions. Critically, these should fund farming, foresters and others to be able to make that change. This should not be done in a forced, top-down, punitive way, but in a way that can turn a challenge into an opportunity. That approach will see us going beyond what has been modelled so far. It is the most important change we must make. There is a sense that it is possible, we will pay for it and that it will come from the bottom up, not just the top down.

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