Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----on this critical issue of climate action and climate finance. I do not know which countries are competing for COP 29, to be very frank. We would certainly prefer that it be in a country that has a good record on climate action rather than one that might be resisting climate action. I am not sure which countries are offering to host at this stage.

The EU's position and the one that Ireland is advocating for at COP is that climate should be at the centre of all financial and economic decisions and that international financial flow should be consistent with the aim to keep global temperature increases as close to the 1.5° as possible by 2030. We have been to the forefront of negotiations on loss and damage and I was happy when I was at COP to announce €25 million towards the newly established loss and damage fund. This is one of the highest per capita contributions of any State.

As I mentioned earlier, we have also committed to €225 million per year in climate finance by 2025, which is a doubling of our previous commitments. We are on track to meet that.

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