Dan Boyle (Green Party)

Part our difficulty has been a failure to acknowledge the seriousness of the issue. The word "irresponsible" has been used today by a stakeholder about my party's position and the introduction of this legislation. It would be irresponsible not to introduce this legislation and it would be reckless not to proceed in a targeted way not only in terms of what we need to do in the short term but in the medium term and the long term. That is the whole point of climate change legislation.

I wish to address some of the concerns that exist among the stakeholders. This Bill is enabling legislation. It lays down targets and what it makes judicable are the plans which lead towards meeting those targets on a regular basis. It is different from legislation which exists in other jurisdictions. It refers to an average approach to meeting those targets but at the end of the day, the targets must be met.

Even in the limited debate we have had so far on this issue, there is huge divergence of opinion about whether the targets are sufficient, whether they are excessive or whether somehow they are deficient in terms of where we need to be. Some of my colleagues on the Government side are saying they go too far, as does Fine Gael. The Labour Party is saying they do not go far enough. The reality is that in tonnage terms, they are no greater than what we have already committed to internationally.