Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Cullinane. We want this to happen. It has to be quantified so that we can measure the progress. Senator Bacik introduced a Bill on the environment in 2007 and the last Government introduced one in 2010. There have been many delays in bringing in this Bill. We should know what the goal is and whether we are making any progress.

I have spent many hours and days in the dungeon at the banking inquiry. It is necessary to motivate public administration with quantified targets and the progress we are making. Many knew what was going wrong in Irish banking but nobody did anything about it. For example, the St. Patrick’s Day massacre occurred but by 29 September nothing had been done, then the banks came looking for €64 billion. We need to galvanise and motivate the environment policy to reach goals.

This has become more urgent. President Obama is seriously concerned about climate change. The Irish-Canadian, Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has said that financing the decarbonisation of our economy is a major opportunity for long-term investors. We want the progress to be quantified to attract investors and to become less aspirational. We all share the same aspirations and support the Minister of State in this regard but let us make it so that we will do it and have something positive to report at the Paris conference at the end of November and early December and show that Ireland has moved on from general philosophising about the way the environment is deteriorating and to quantify it, set out the targets and galvanise the public agencies into doing something about it. The need in Senator Cullinane’s amendments is overwhelming. We will have to do this some time. Let us make today the starting point. Even that, many people would say, is too late.