Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thought we were changing "Government". It is "Minister of Government" and "Government of Ireland".

To address the fear that the Bill will have the same wording problem that arose in court with the 2015 legislation, it is worth saying that the new 2021 legislation is very different and has substantially different requirements and obligations that are much more onerous on the Minister and Government.

Section 3(3), as substituted in the Bill, states that the Minister and Government are now bound to carry out their respective functions under a list of matters which have to be consistent with the climate objectives specified in the 1992 convention and the Paris Agreement. These are very specific obligations which were not in the 2015 Act. I do not believe this amendment is necessary to correct a perceived loophole in the 2015 legislation.

On the Senator's point on the body and Government of Ireland, section 16 amends section 15 of the principal Act with the substitution of "A relevant body shall, in so far as practicable, perform its functions in a manner consistent with". The Senator wants to change this to "A relevant body and the Government of Ireland". Her feeling is that the Government is not a body. It can not go into a schedule of bodies and, therefore, it needs to be included in the Bill. She referred to the 2015 Act where the view of the judge was that the Government is not responsible because it is not included in that clause.

However, I return to the fact that the Bill provides specific obligations on the Government which were not enumerated in the 2015 Act. The 2021 Bill specifically lists things that the Government and Minister must do. These are enumerated in section 3(3) and are very clear and unambiguous, and have been designed in that way. The wording and amendments were discussed with the Office of the Attorney General to determine the best way to make sure the Bill is watertight. To my satisfaction, this is the best way to word it and for that reason, I will not accept the amendments.