Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin will not oppose today's amendment by the Minister to the climate Bill as we too welcome the inclusion of 6A into section 3(3). However, its inclusion does not allay all our concerns about the Seanad amendments that were adopted in the Dáil on Wednesday night. I continue to share the concerns of Professor John Sweeney that their inclusion undermines the scientific basis of the Bill and potentially leaves this Government and future governments hostage to lobbyists and interest groups rather than following best international practice. I also share his concerns about the independence of the Climate Change Advisory Council in making its budgets. In the Minister's defence of the amendments in the Dáil debate he referred to Article 5 of the Paris Agreement, but the climate Bill does not refer to Article 5. It refers only to Articles 2 and 4(1), so why did the Minister not include Article 5 in his amendment to give even further reassurance to those of us who want the most progressive, most robust climate Bill?

The climate Bill will pass today and, despite the concerns raised, is at least far superior legislation than the first draft we were presented with in October. That is thanks to the collaborative hard work of the committee and the approach that was taken then, which was really effective. I remind Senator Pauline O'Reilly that Sinn Féin was part of that process and that it was in fact a Green Minister who tried to railroad the Bill through before Christmas and requested that we give it two weeks of pre-legislative scrutiny.