Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate the points I made on Committee Stage in regard to the Aarhus Convention. During pre-legislative scrutiny by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action, I pushed to have recommendation 57 included in the recommendations. The Minister might let us know if this Bill has been checked for compatability with the Aarhus Convention. Last week, the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, said that he believes this Bill goes beyond the Aarhus Convention and, therefore, it is not appropriate necessarily to have it referenced within it. Ireland has signed up to the Aarhus Convention and if there is concern around adherence, as raised by Senator Gavan and shared by many people, that cannot be addressed by the inclusion of the Aarhus Convention in this Bill; it has to be addressed outside of this Bill. I do not believe this Bill is the place for this. As I have said many times, throwing everything into the pot can lessen the impact of this Bill. We need to stand firm behind our commitment around the Aarhus Convention but we should not be putting that into this Bill because it is already with the Aarhus Convention, and goes beyond it.