Ms Grace O'Sullivan:

Do we want gas or coal? We want to progress towards neither because both are greenhouse gas emitters. Mr. Kelly says we want to decarbonise our economy. Unfortunately, it is more that just our economy. It is society. It is the very future or the planet we live on.

I absolutely appreciate and respect very much what Senator O'Sullivan and Mr. Kelly said. As a long-term activist pushing towards genuine sustainability, I mention the funding. We should remember the European Investment Bank, EIB, has said it will not use the taxonomy as is. The EIB will not use it as a classification system because it says it is flawed. Thus, we have big investment institutes that are already saying this taxonomy regulation will not be fit for purpose before it has even got over the line. We cannot even let it get to that line.

The point I am trying to make and will continue to make is we need all our efforts, all the funding mechanisms, and all the legislation and initiative coming through the Government to push towards renewable energy. I am aware this is the so-called transition stage but we must ensure the investment is in clean renewables. As we have said - and I heard this when I was in school way back in the 1970s - we have the natural resources. We have the wind and the waves. We have capacity. However, if we do not get a move on, climate change will overwhelm us. We see it in our climate patterns. We see the writing is on the wall. The glaciers are melting to the north in the Arctic and to the south in the Antarctic. We are in for extreme problems if we do not get a move on.