Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the legislation and I also welcome the opportunity for the Government and its partners to demonstrate their commitment to and sincerity about the protection of our environment and a reduction in climate change. In the past few days I have received hundreds of e-mails from people asking me to support the Bill. That demonstrates the strength of feeling on the issue and proves the wind is behind us. My party and I will be happy to support the Bill.

Our nation and our planet need to act now to control climate change and to ensure our environment is properly protected. There is no alternative, as we have run out of time and we cannot relax into a false sense of security. We cannot introduce a reactive policy of taxing polluters and paying no heed to the damage done nor can we listen to the false prophets or the flat earthers who say this is nothing to do with climate change because the world is undergoing natural cyclical changes that take place over centuries. Pollution cannot be dealt with on a case by case basis. Wholesale reductions in greenhouse gases should be considered on a year by year compound basis. That is the best way to preserve the planet. When every scientific expert in the world agrees we have a problem, it is up to us, as politicians, to show leadership and to act.

The Bill seeks to deal with the increasing rate of greenhouse gasses and seeks to limit Ireland to 70 million tonnes of emissions by 2010 followed by a 3% decrease annually until 2050, which provides for a compound decrease of 60% over our lifetime. That is laudable and it is worth passing on to the children of our nation. As a nation, we need to take a firm grip on what is happening. During the final two decades of the 20th century, we experienced more hot years than in the preceding 400 years and 11 of the past 12 years have been among the warmest since 1850. If the Government does not act now, that trend will continue.

The Independent Senators have introduced a bold and ambitious Bill and we support it. In a spirit of co-operation, we will recommend that more work is done to give the legislation more teeth. It states if the rate of emission exceeds by 5% the target set down, an assessment of the reasons for this must be carried out, which must be discussed by an Oireachtas committee, while if the target is exceeded by 10%, a motion of confidence in the Minister should be tabled. I cannot imagine a Minister quaking in his or her boots on the basis of this provision. As we witnessed last week, any Government, regardless of what is being discussed, can muster sufficient votes to defeat a motion of no confidence. Tougher penalties should be introduced to make sure the targets are not exceeded. Even a Minister as motivated as Deputy Gormley would be able to hide behind an Oireachtas committee on this issue and he ultimately would be protected by the Government. The Labour Party has received advice, which suggests a constitutional issue may arise if the Seanad passes a Bill that contains a provision for a motion for no confidence to be tabled in the Dáil.

The issue of penalties and rewards needs to be teased out. Carrots must be offered but it also must be ensured a big enough stick is found with which to hit people if they exceed the targets set down. The Bill makes no reference to the role of local authorities, which could, potentially, play a significant role. For instance, they could be required to introduce stipulations in their county development plans regarding emissions resulting from rezoning decisions. The Bill also makes no provision for monitoring the effectiveness of architects appointed by developers to make sure builders are certified to the level required by law. Consideration should be given to how emissions from buildings can be monitored. However, all these issues can be addressed later in the debate. We would like the Bill to proceed and work done on it at a later stage. It is worthy and we will lend our support. It is vital that an attempt is made to address climate change before it is too late.