Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

To first address the Bill on safe access zones, as the Cathaoirleach will know, I am a co-signatory so I very much hope that we can pass the Bill on Thursday. I also welcome Senator Clonan and congratulate all of those who ran. It was a stellar performance by an awful lot of people, including members of my party. I congratulate them for putting themselves forward. I am sure we will see them again in the future.

I will also speak about carbon budgets. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, report was stark. If we keep going the way we are going, we will reach 3.2°C above average pre-industrial temperatures by the year 2100. We just cannot do that. We have to move beyond that. For clarity, the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action recommended that we adopt these carbon budgets. Most of the recommendations related to sectoral targets, which have yet to come. That is where the public comes in. It is absolutely essential that the public is behind this. Many of the committee's recommendations related to that. I urge people to support these carbon budgets. We need to act now.