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

I welcome the Taoiseach's words of support for the Nature Restoration Law and indeed his comments on community engagement. That is the issue with the correspondence he has received this week from representatives of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, from the Environmental Pillar, Irish Rural Link, Social Justice Ireland, Friends of the Earth, and others, who are concerned about the delays in establishing the just transition commission. Indeed, if we look at the great work of the citizens' assembly on climate action and biodiversity, it also talks about the need for community engagement. That is why we need to see that commission set up without delay and to ensure that it does engage meaningfully with the community. We know that communities which have the most to lose from transition need to be consulted with, invested in and supported. We have also seen this reflected at international level where the ILO is talking about just transition having to include consultations, exchange of information and forms of dialogue between the social partners and governments.

How will the Taoiseach be responding to the civil society groups and trade unions which have corresponded with him this week on the just transition commission and can he give a commitment - I know he said he cannot give a date - that the commission will be established within a particular timeframe and that its terms of reference will be clear on that need for social dialogue?

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