Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

These two weeks are critical for our future. In advance of COP26, it was made clear from the IPCC report that every single thing we do matters. All over this country our citizens and our inhabitants are calling for action to reverse climate breakdown. Children have been calling for action for many years, taking to the streets and pleading with politicians. Small farmers who I speak to know that the future is a future based on a greener product and a resilient food system. They have felt powerless.What of the business sector? This week Chambers Ireland called for a dramatic change - a change that is not incremental but hits the fast forward button. It says our economy needs it, and it is right. Let us be honest. We also need it for our health and for the many species on this earth that depend on us to do the right thing not least for the survival of our own species but for peace on this planet because, make no mistake, war, migration and famine will escalate without it.

I returned from pre-COP in Rome a couple of weeks ago and felt some despair. I spoke to delegates from some of the countries most impacted by climate chaos and which have done little to bring about this collapse. There was message after message of solidarity but I wondered whether all trust had broken down. The developed world failed to live up to its climate finance obligations under the sustainable development goals and the Paris Agreement of giving €100 billion a year to developing nations. There was also that feeling that trust had broken down because the developed world even failed to follow through on a TRIPS waiver when it came to the pandemic.

Over the past few days, as I and other parliamentarians prepare to go to COP26 in Glasgow, I have felt hope, and we have to feel hope. That is what the IPCC report calls for. The very fact that today I heard the Taoiseach give an unequivocal commitment in an interview on "Morning Ireland"gives me that hope. The actions of politicians will in large part define what happens next for the future of our species. Today the Taoiseach is telling the world that Ireland will double its climate finance to developing nations by 2025 but the biggest contribution we will make as a country will be to reduce our emissions. As one of the highest emitting nations in the EU, how we will do this will be laid down in the climate action plan.

In light of all this I find it alarming that today, of all days, is the day Sinn Féin called for more consultation on the climate action plan. There will of course be consultation, but we have to see all politicians stepping up to the mark for the sake of our country and our world, and demonstrating leadership. Not only does Sinn Féin throw shade on the climate action plan but again this week, of all weeks, it wants to put a Bill before the Dáil that would effectively stop wind energy turbines from being built on land in Ireland. It withdrew it, no doubt because of the push-back. I do not like saying this but it is incumbent on all of us who care about the environment to call out this lack of commitment and this populism. We have done it when it comes to the media and we will do it when it comes to the Opposition. It too must play its part.