Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Let us get to the amendment. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 and the provisions therein are important and provide for public bodies to act in a manner consistent with the latest climate action plan and relevant plans and strategies "in so far as is practicable". The Government has introduced a number of measures. For example, we cut VAT on electricity and gas. That is not good for the climate. We are giving people €1.6 billion in cash into their electricity accounts to cushion the burden of the increase in the cost of electricity. One could say that is not consistent with the Act because it encourages people to use more electricity. We cut the price of petrol and diesel at a significant cost of, I believe, €500 million. All of these measures were taken because it was felt necessary to deal with the cost-of-living crisis. That is why the Act uses the phrase "in so far as is practicable". As such, nothing is changing with this Bill.

The insertion of section 82D into the 1992 Act under section 3 of the Bill is being done on the advice of the Attorney General and reflects the language already approved by the Oireachtas under section 10 of the Development (Emergency Electricity Generation) Act 2022. While the Bill is intended to require the agency to act in a manner consistent with the 2015 Act, it is proposed that it would do so in a practicable way, having regard to the seriousness of the current situation. The provision in the Bill as initiated merely provides clarity as to what will feed into the agency's decision.

On a technical level, the Senator's proposal would go further than the provisions of section 15(1) of the 2015 Act, which requires public bodies to act in a manner consistent with the relevant plans and strategies "in so far as is practicable". For these reasons, I cannot accept the proposed amendment.