Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Without exaggeration, this is an historic time for Ireland, including its Legislature. We are standing up, our voice is being heard and we are translating words into actions.Our voices are being heard and we are translating words into action. We are placing our targets on a statutory footing for the first time. That has massive import. It is an unfair comparison when looking at the greatest challenge facing humanity, but the seismic change it made when we introduced personal insolvency on a statutory footing in Ireland was a game changer. Suddenly, creditors were tied in in a statutory way and the agreements reached with borrowers were unrecognisable from their voluntary efforts. Therefore, the locking in of targets and our approach to this issue, including the approach of each Department, the budgetary approach, on a statutory level, is monumental.

This is a proud day for Ireland, but I could not let the moment pass without mentioning people, past and present, in politics and the environmental movement. Each and every one should take a bow. I will mention three today. They are the three leaders of the Green Party, Comhaontas Glas, in my lifetime here, former Deputies Trevor Sargent and John Gormley, and in particular, my good friend and colleague, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who has seen this through to the end. He deserves great credit for it.

Nine out of ten of us breath unhealthy air. Air pollution from fossil fuel combustion kills over 7 million people each year, according to Sir David Attenborough and, on average, takes three years' life expectancy from each one of us.

I would like to acknowledge the work in County Kildare of the Climate Response Ireland group, founded by Kevin Mullen, ably assisted by Councillors Vanessa Liston, Peter Hamilton, Keith Costigan, Niall Stafford, Alan Kelly and many others. They have put over a dozen air monitors throughout County Kildare. The results can be found on their website, climateresponse.ie. The news is not good. If ever one wants to see an example of a local concern that this affects us all, just look at what is predominantly a brilliant Celbridge initiative. I look forward to inviting the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications to Kildare to introduce him to the wonderful voluntary workers, who yesterday announced an exciting partnership with Maynooth university, where they will be developing a prototype filtration device to assess the particulate matter, the concerns, and how we can alleviate it in simple domestic boilers. The evidence is that when traffic is at its heaviest at school collection points, the air is unhealthy.

On the previous occasion that we discussed this legislation, due to Covid restrictions I could not be in the Chamber. However, I was listening attentively and watching it on my monitor in my office located nearby. It was said or implied that we are losing the run of ourselves in respect of tackling climate change because Ireland is a small country. Some asked: "What about China?" The reality is that emissions in China are very high per capita, at 7.38 tonnes per person, but Ireland's emissions are 8.32 tonnes per person. As Senator Higgins highlighted in the last debate, Malawi, in comparison, has emissions of 0.11 tonnes per person. In 2014, I was stunned by the findings of the Trócaire report, which stated that Ireland's carbon emissions are equal to that of 400 million of the world's poorest people.

Therefore, I do not buy into the idea that Ireland is a small player in climate change. I believe in moral leadership. The idea that simply because of the size of our population, we can stand idly by, we are not a player and it makes no difference what we do, does not make sense to me as moral leadership. The statistics also do not reflect that.The domino effect of any country taking it easy could be catastrophic. Ireland is now proudly moving away from being a laggard and there is still hope. However, phasing out the vital zero emissions as this Bill proposes to do will not be enough. We must draw down the carbon which is already overheating the planet. Capturing this carbon will be essential. I know this message will be music to the ears of Senator McGreehan. I urge people to plant trees. It is not just for the carbon sinks; they do so much more for the quality of water and for the moisture in the soil.

Today is a proud day for the Irish Parliament and our parliamentary system. In the long term this should be front and centre of the UN Security Council. This is the greatest war of all and the greatest challenge facing humanity. Every individual and every country, big and small, must step up. Ireland is proudly stepping up today as we pass this historic legislation.