Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish everybody a happy Europe Day, which falls on 9 May every year. Some 92% of the Irish population is still expressing support for the EU and EU membership. It is important that we acknowledge it. It has come a long way since the foundation in 1951 of the European Coal and Steel Community. I am sure some of my colleagues who are members of the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs will be mentioning Europe Day.

If we are going to have a Seanad reform committee, I am delighted that Senator McDowell is to chair it. I am not so sure I am delighted with some of the other members of whom I was informed this afternoon. They have obviously done everything in their own constituency, which is where I live, and have so much time on their hands that they can reflect on Seanad reform. I hope that the committee does not just consider how one gets into this Chamber but also examines what the Seanad could be doing that it is not doing and what it could be doing better. It is not the Cathaoirleach's or the chairman's fault, but all I have heard so far is about how Senators get in here. I have heard nothing about what they do when they are here, or what they could be doing and so on.

I heard a speech by the Taoiseach last night in which he mentioned climate change in the course of a much broader debate. He fairly brushed over the fact that we will not meet our 2020 targets or even our 2030 targets but that we should make our 2050 targets. It is probably easy to say that we will meet targets 32 years from now. From 2020, I understand we will be facing fines of between €300 million and €600 million a year. Surely it would be better if we could achieve the targets. We should do whatever we need to do in terms of electric vehicles, building insulation of public buildings and private housing and so on. We should try to mitigate against whatever fines we are going to have to pay. I call on the Leader to bring in the Minister, Deputy Naughten, to have a debate on climate change and where we are going. It is not about agriculture or vehicles only. Let us try to make sure that we mitigate against the worst effects of having to pay these fines and, equally, that we improve the quality of the planet for generations to come.