Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I also want to address the Minister today because climate action is needed. It is so important that we talk about change and awareness. I know the Minister spoke about electric cars, which are very important, and upgrading our houses in the report but plastic is a serious issue and it is urgent we work on that because we need some sort of action. What is the Minister's overall plan with regard to this?

I do not know if the Minister has heard of John Tyndall, a scientist born in Carlow in 1820.He was one of the first scientists to explore what was called the environmental phenomena, answering the question as to why the sky was blue. He was talking about the environment in the 1820s and how it affected us. It is nearly 2020 and there is an environmental emergency. He was ahead of his time.

We listen to Greta Thunberg and we see and hear how young people are affected by this. Young people walked out of their schools and protested because they know that climate action is so important. We should issue an official invitation to Greta Thunberg to address the Upper and Lower Houses, because she is also ahead of her time. She can guide us and certainly can help us with issues we need to address.

Young people are so firm on this and they know we need change but we are not making this change and this is the problem. I believe they feel we are not listening to them. They are our future and we need to make sure we work on the future. I would ask the Minister to look at this.

Previous speakers raised issues about cars and housing but I would like to ask about funding. Everything boils down to funding. Reports are done and funding for this and that is promised but are we going to deliver on this? I know the Minister is trying his best to make sure we deliver, but is he going to guarantee that what is in that report will be funded and that going forward we will listen to young people? We need to listen to them. That is the one thing that I would ask of the Minister today, that we make sure that we listen and that we work through the schools, because sometimes communication and awareness raising is a huge problem. Sometimes there is a bubble and once we go outside that bubble people feel they are not being listened to. We need to address young people and those in schools and all the areas in which we feel we can make the change. I believe the Minister will do that. I ask that he listen to my concerns and come back to me with some answers.