Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As we are smack bang in the middle of climate action week, I would like to address the issue of empowering our young people. We say education is power. Questions of how to relate to issues concerning our environment, how to take climate action without feeling paralysed by the mountain ahead of us with regard to changing from a fossil-fuel based lifestyle to one based on new technologies, and how to become a zero carbon economy and society are very challenging. Young people can be very concerned about this.One of the proposals in the Government's climate action plan is a short course in the junior cycle in secondary schools to better inform young people so people might make decisions allowing for individual responsibility and take control of the situation, so to speak. We know it is an issue of considerable interest to many young people. We have seen young people get involved in debates and we had young people attending the Committee on Climate Action on which I sit. They all want to get involved and be proactive. We have also seen them protest. I look at it running in the same way as the green schools certificates operated by An Taisce. They are very beneficial in that they give our young people a rounded life experience and an education for life. The better we understand the place we live in and the planet we live on, the better decisions and choices we can make. This is for all generations, old and young.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has examined the curriculum on sustainable development and has made a number of recommendations on how it can be developed. I would like to see an emphasis on this and it being developed and rolled out to our young people in conjunction with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and other key stakeholders. We would be doing them a great service.