Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I completely concur with Senator McFadden. A debate on carers should take place and we need to burrow down into the reasons carers are not getting sufficient support.

Last week in this Chamber we heard statements from the Ministers, Deputies Denis Naughten and Shane Ross, on the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015. Later today we will hear from the Ministers responsible for the Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Housing, Planning and Local Government. Although I am grateful for the opportunity to have dedicated time to debate such issues in the House, I am concerned at the way in which the Government has engaged with the process to date. It has not been in compliance with the existing rules as laid out in section 14(4) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act. The statements we heard last week do not comply with the requirements of the Act. They did not set out the analyses in a structured fashion which would enable the Seanad to respond to them and evaluate the work of the Government and the Ministers, as is clearly the intention of the Act.

With this in mind, I communicated my concerns to the offices of the Ministers, Deputies Denis Naughten, Michael Creed, Shane Ross and Eoghan Murphy, last Thursday. I copied the Cathaoirleach and Senator Jerry Buttimer in the correspondence, which sought more satisfactory compliance during this afternoon's session. I have not yet received any response and I would like to raise this issue on the Order of Business to ensure that this afternoon's statements are not more of the same as last week.

Last year the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment summarised all of the contributions from the various Government Departments in a single 75-page annual transition statement document, a comprehensive single source for statistics relating to Ireland's climate action performance in the previous year. I ask that the Cathaoirleach request that the Ministers adhere to their obligations and inform the House of details of their Departments' performance last year in compliance with the Act. Will the Acting Leader inform me whether a comprehensive study of the climate performance will be delivered to the Seanad and the Dáil as it was last year? In these circumstances I would like the Acting Leader to indicate when the Government will do so as we are coming to the end of the year.