Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It gives me huge pleasure, on behalf of the Green Party, to welcome our colleague, Mal O'Hara, who is chair of our all-Ireland party. I have worked closely with Mal for a number of years. On behalf of the Green Party, I negotiated our foreign affairs and Northern Ireland policy and Mal joined me in those negotiations along with former leader Clare Bailey. We negotiated with the Ministers, Deputies Coveney and Darragh O'Brien, the all-island group within the Government. It is fitting that Mal is sitting in this Parliament with the Government today. It is also important to mention the Senator's family. I had the pleasure of sitting down with his mum and auntie last night. Quite apart from the fact that Mal is very dedicated to his family, he is also very good-humoured and funny and we will all experience that over the coming months.

I also congratulate our new Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris. I have the utmost respect for former Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, and wish him well on his future journey. I must say, however, that I was massively disappointed when I heard the speech at the Ard-Fheis on Saturday evening that there was scant reference to climate. We are a three-party coalition. We have made huge progress working together. It looks like our emissions for 2023 will be down by about 5%. We need to continue with what we have been doing as a country and what members of the public expect and want from their Government.I have no doubt that it was an error on his part not to put climate front and centre but I will also say that we will be watching carefully to ensure the progress we have made does not fall apart. This is why it is important that we work together, that the Green Party is in this coalition and that we stand our ground on climate for the future of our children.