Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I support this amendment and thank Deputy Murphy for tabling it. The way I look at it, if the Minister of State does not do this, he is actually tying the hands of GNI. He is constraining it, limiting it to very commercial activity and operations and not taking other things into consideration. Now is his opportunity. Bringing the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act through was a huge win for the environment. It was a very significant piece of work the Green Party in government did, in consultation with the Opposition, but it cannot be a stand-alone measure. It has to operate in a legislative framework. There is a whole set of jigsaw pieces of legislation and they all have to be working in sync. This is just an effort to make one of those key pieces of legislation operate in sync with the objectives of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act and the stated objectives of the Government. Now that this Bill is in front of us and the amendment has been moved, it will be a real missed opportunity if the Minister of State does not incorporate it into the legislation. Who knows what is going to happen down the road. Who knows when the next opportunity to make this really important change will arise. I ask the Minister of State to consider it and incorporate it.

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