Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 5:

In page 6, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following:“(a) specify the projected total national emissions for the period of the plan on the basis of all the policy measures specified in the plan,”.

The important point here is the lack of quantification of the targets. A report from BBC News on the climate change conference, which we all look forward to at the end of the month in Paris, includes a quote from Taryn Fransen from the World Resources Institute who says that the vast majority of intended nationally determined contribution, INDC, targets this time around, 105 of them, contain concrete greenhouse gas mitigation targets, which is in contrast to the 27 in Copenhagen, the failed conference in the Danish capital. One environmentalist said this morning that he used to think of Ireland, the United States under President Bush and China as the laggards with regard to the environment, but the other two have moved substantially.

We should have quantified targets for dealing with climate change. It would be a sign of the Government's earnestness of intent and would give the Oireachtas a measure to see if progress is being made. We have gone past the goodwill platitude status. We must do something now. Why not quantify the targets and look each year to see how we are doing? The majority of people at the Paris conference will be able to say that they have quantified their targets. Undoubtedly, mistakes can be made in quantification and sometimes governments find it embarrassing to put them forward but we should at least try in this regard. We must get past woolly aspirations because all the research tells us that this will probably get more serious. Let us tackle it in a determined way, which the Minister is well capable of doing in the other area of his Department. A housing policy without quantified targets would sound very strange. An environmental policy without them will not do Ireland much credit at the international conference.