Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It would be lovely to answer it. The Government is absolutely bound by the targets and is working to achieve them. Do I accept the targets are extraordinarily challenging? I do but I am pointing out that in this House it has been said, for example, that farming will never reach its targets. This is not true. We are seeing emissions from farming and agriculture drop. We are seeing farmers do their bit and make the difference. We are seeing investment in technology through Science Foundation Ireland to help farms in the Deputy's part of the world in west Cork become carbon neutral in terms of how they deliver. We are seeing a real increase in the investment we are making in the retrofitting of our homes to get 500,000 done by 2030. This is a core part of our plan. We are seeing incentives to help people convert to electric vehicles. We are making the investments and we will make more. I do agree that the climate emergency is real. The science is clear and meeting our targets is absolutely required. We will continue to work across parties to make this happen.

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