Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. This is a very important debate in regard to the climate action plan and where we are going in this very important space. The Minister is correct that this is a debate of our generation in order to ensure we have a planet to hand on to the next generation, which is a great responsibility on everybody who attends the debate today. I am somewhat disappointed that only four Members out of 60 have come to discuss this issue, given it is one of the biggest issues we have to deal with. To think we only have a handful of Senators present is quite disappointing.

This is about trying to bring people with us, which is the point I wish to focus on today. It is about how we get community involvement and get that bottom-up approach in order that we can ensure that all communities and all sectors can work together to deliver this. We have talked about transition towns, one of which is Kinsale, where fantastic work is done. However, there are only 250 to 260 transition towns and we need to promote the concept in every town in Ireland. If we have that buy-in and input from the bottom up, then we will have real change because schools, community associations and society itself will come together and work to deliver what we have to deliver, which is a real change in our society and how we deal with such matters.

While the bottom-up approach is very important, the all-of-Government approach is also very important. The Minister rightly mentioned the jobs plan of some years ago, when vast numbers were brought into employment. That came from an all-of-Government approach and that approach is very important in regard to this plan also. It brings responsibility on all Departments to work together to deliver the ambition of this plan.

Those are the two issues we need to ensure we get right. If we can get all of Government working to deliver this and can get the communities involved at the bottom of the tree, we will, hopefully, see a major change in society. There will be major change, whether in farming and the farming community, in energy or in how we drive our cars and what kind of cars we drive. There will be significant change if we are to reach our 2030 and 2050 targets. However, I believe there is buy-in. Society has moved with us and it is really on this page. Four or five years ago, one could argue the point, but there is no arguing now. People want change and they actually demand change. They want the Oireachtas and the Government to ensure that change happens. We are in a different space. Society has bought in and the Government is definitely buying in with this climate action plan. We now need to make sure that we can get both the bottom-up approach and the whole-of-Government approach to work together to make sure we can deliver this plan.

It will be an evolving plan and an evolving process. The Minister is correct that not everything is going to work. New technologies and new issues will come on board, and this is something we have to be open to. Just because something fails does not mean the plan fails; it means that we need to analyse it and move on to something else. We have to realise this will be part of this plan. Just because one issue fails does not mean the entire plan fails. This is about ensuring we evolve, change and build on the plan to ensure we deliver what we have to deliver for society.