Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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107. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on his UN speech on climate change. [39634/19]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I attended the UN Climate Action Summit in New York last Monday, 23 September. I was accompanied by Minister Bruton and Ireland’s Youth Delegate, Alicia O’Sullivan.

The Summit was organised by UN Secretary-General Guterres to encourage Member States to rapidly boost ambition in order to meet the targets set under the Paris Agreement.

In my statement to the Summit I outlined Ireland’s actions to date including banning fracking, establishing a climate action fund and divesting the Strategic Investment Fund from fossil fuels. I set out our ambitions under our new Climate Action Plan, highlighting in particular the cross-party agreement to increase carbon tax to €80 per tonne by 2030. I announced that from next year we will ring-fence this revenue to fund new climate action and just transition. I also set out Ireland’s intention to bring exploration for oil to an end on foot of advice from the Climate Change Advisory Council.