Results 1-20 of 26 for at segment:8093494

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Gino Kenny: It is in everybody's interest that the environment we live in is sustainable and that we can cohabitate with the natural world and the animal world. That is in all our interests given the damage done to, and the potential damage that will be inflicted on, this planet. We have come across environmental and social issues in the last seven or eight years where young people have engaged. I...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Réada Cronin: My biggest concern with the climate action plan is the place within it for the just transition and what I considered to be a lukewarm commitment to it. The transition to carbon neutrality must be achievable and affordable across the whole of society and not just for the select few. As I state consistently at the climate committee, it would be damaging to social cohesion and democracy itself...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Nothing will turn people off the climate action agenda that we need to urgently undertake more than big corporations, wealthy individuals and political elites lecturing ordinary people about their personal culpability for the climate crisis. I warn the Government that if it does not break from that reliance, it will turn people away from the climate agenda. It will alienate people. There...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Chris Andrews: We are amidst a deepening crisis as climate change continues to accelerate apace. We hear of all the rhetoric and talk from Government of a just transition for our communities, grants and supports for retrofitting of homes and for electric cars. However, that is all it is to most people - it is talk. How can the average family afford a €40,000 to €60,000 retrofit of their...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Michael Healy-Rae: Will the Minister wake up and admit that? I would like him to answer that question when he is responding later. I will be listening very intently to what he says. He should answer the people and tell them that his failed policies were going to result in Ireland being shut down for electricity. Some people received redundancies, or were on pensions retired at home, and they got the call...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Seán Canney: I am glad the Minister of State is in the House to hear my few humble words on the climate action plan. The first point I want to make is that all plans can be torn asunder by the people reading them. They can nitpick and say this or that is wrong and will not work. The proof of the pudding for any plan is in its implementation. We need this plan and I agree we need to implement it....

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Cormac Devlin: I wish the Ceann Comhairle the very best. I welcome this opportunity to examine the Government's proposed Climate Action Plan 2021. The science on climate change is clear. As temperatures continue to rise, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent, with increased risk to global food supplies and security. We now have to act. We can build a greener economy and society which create...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Eamon Ryan: I thank Deputies for contributing to the debate this evening. At COP26 in Glasgow, it was interesting to note that there was not a single country represented that did not recognise the absolute urgency and need for us to meet the targets set in the Paris Agreement to try to keep the increase in global temperatures below 1.5 degrees. As Mary Robinson said during the course of the...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Thomas Pringle: What strikes me most about the 2021 climate action plan is not only its lack of ambition and bravery, but most important, its complete lack of any sense of togetherness in the face of this immense global issue that we are facing together. It is clear that the plan is not in line with climate justice. The statement by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan,...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Martin Kenny: I was thinking earlier about this notion of moving from rhetoric to real policies. We all agree that is what we need to do. I remember being here for a debate on microgeneration, which I think was in 2016 during my first year in the Dáil. It was about people putting solar panels on the roofs of their homes, farmers putting them on the roofs of their sheds, selling it back to the grid...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Ruairi Ó Murchú: I was somewhat confused when I came into the Chamber in that it looked like there were only two parties in government. I think I am correct that nobody from Fianna Fáil has spoken yet, but things are as they are. I am going to make my points in a straightforward way. I am glad we are having an over-and-back exchange and I am very glad the Government wants to work with the Opposition....

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Patricia Ryan: I welcome the opportunity to speak on the climate action plan. The devil is in the detail and I do not believe this Government has any intention of addressing the climate crisis we face, nor the energy, cost-of-living, housing and health crises. I could go on, but I only have a short time. We have a Government of crisis currently in crisis. It strikes me as a Government living on borrowed...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Joe Carey: The four elements believed essential to life are earth, air, fire and water. It seems that human actions and inaction have damaged all these elements, especially over the past 150 years. We have seen the earth exploited through increased cultivation of our land, destruction of our forests and the increased use of landfill to dump our rubbish. We have seen a marked decline in our air...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Marian Harkin: Climate change and how we deal with it is the defining issue of our generation, an issue that will impact forever, at least in human terms, on future generations. While we recognise and accept individual responsibility, as we must, we must also look to our Government to put systems and structures in place to facilitate us as citizens to play our role, not to absolve us from responsibility...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Richard O'Donoghue: The Rural Independent Group is behind everything that can be done to reduce emissions but it will not accept a carbon tax that is being foisted on the Irish people. Irish people will pay the highest rate of carbon tax anywhere in the world at €41 per tonne following budget 2022, with a statutory target of a staggering €100 per tonne by 2030. Like everyone else, we want the...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Jennifer Whitmore: I welcome the opportunity to debate the climate action plan. As the Minister of State said, it is very welcome we have opportunities like this to have these discussions. I welcome also the intention from the Government side and the talk of urgency, ambition and the need to actually get moving. I appreciate the comments from Deputy Leddin and look forward to working with him on the...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Richard Bruton: I sympathise with Deputy Whitmore; five or six minutes is too little. Normally, transformative change of the sort we are undertaking is created by some disruptive technology that sweeps everything before it. What is unique about this crisis is that we have to make this transformative change by an act of human or political will. That challenges us all because the task of politicians is to...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Fergus O'Dowd: I welcome this debate and the Minister of State. I will concentrate on air quality and related issues and the future of all our health. The Environmental Protection Agency tells us that since the regulations controlling air pollution were introduced in 2015, some 1,300 people die annually as a direct result of solid fuel emissions from home heating and fires. One problem is that there is...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Michael Collins: The Green Party believes its view of the world is superior. The hollow talk of building back better, just transitions and our glowing net-zero future sounds great from an ideological standpoint but means the burden will be borne primarily by rural residents. The rural-urban divide is perhaps most evident when it comes to public transport. The CSO data indicate that rural-urban public...

Climate Action Plan 2021: Statements (23 Nov 2021)

Brian Leddin: I am sharing time with my Government colleague, Deputy O'Dowd. I wish to acknowledge my fellow spokespeople on climate, Deputy O’Rourke from Sinn Féin and Deputy Bacik from Labour. I believe both Deputies to be genuinely committed to the issue of climate. Having listened to them, some of their criticism and their takes on the climate action plan are valid and legitimate. We...