Vincent P Martin (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Well, Monsignor Horan started Knock, so anything is possible.

However, the scale of Ireland, as the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan said, does not suit what the Senators envisage for Ireland. As a member of the Green Party, I have attended many conferences over the years and I recall what Senator Mullen said, which is to keep all options open. Nobody has a monopoly on truth to dismiss disrespectfully other alternative options, but the motion, which the Senators put much thought into, is absent many of the other options.

I welcome the fact that it is not morally bankrupt by suggesting Ireland can take a holiday. That argument has long since been over. We have a moral duty to rise to the challenge. Our global emissions per capitaare bigger than those of China. As I have said in this Chamber on a number of occasions previously, Malawi, which has a population of 20 million, has emissions of 0.11 tonnes per person while Ireland's are 8.32 tonnes. Ireland's carbon emissions are equal to those of 400 million of the world's poorest population. It goes without saying that we should always put it on the record that we should never take the road of the morally bankrupt option and I am delighted that the Senators have not done that.

However, they have failed to mention the circular economy in the motion. I realise the motion is not an exhaustive list so I am not saying this in a judgmental or critical way, but offering it as an observation. One might ask what the circular economy has to do with climate change. It has a lot to do with it. It was best articulated in the words of Ms Angela Ruttledge recently, who is campaign lead for Sick of Plastic and co-owner of two Dublin restaurants. She said:

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates climate action efforts such as moving to renewables and greater efficiency [which this motion is all about] can only address 55 per cent of emissions. The remaining human-caused greenhouse gases come from "making stuff".

The Government has proposed legislation on the circular economy to go through the Houses, and I am delighted that it is being driven by the Green Party. Simply put, the circular economy is about making stuff last and not packaging stuff that can be used just once. I know I am out of time, but a quotation from Arthur Miller in Death of a Salesmancomes to mind. He lamented built-in obsolescence when he wrote Death of a Salesman. I am probably taking the quote slightly out of context, but I like it:

I've got to get some seeds, right away. Nothing's planted. I don't have a thing in the ground.

The motion, although it is well-intended, does not have a thing in the ground. I wish I had much more time to address it, but I genuinely commend the Senators on putting this centre stage in their Private Members' time. Although we agree to disagree, it is a good day when there is such prioritisation of the energy challenges we all face and the destination we want to reach together. I just disagree with the journey. I would like to be a passenger on the bus the Senators are driving because I believe there is a more efficient way of getting there. We will agree to disagree on that.