Climate Action Plan
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-17
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Paul Murphy (PBP), Dublin South-West

For years, we have been told that the Government's climate targets are legally binding, and the implication was that, therefore, heaven and earth would be moved in order to meet those targets. Then, in January, we heard from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, that the Government is not going to meet the targets, and it did not announce any measures or have any plan to announce any measures to actually close the gap and meet those targets. The contrast between what the Taoiseach said when he went to COP 30 in Brazil and then the reality of what the Government is doing on the ground could not be more stark. Temperatures are rising, and the clock is ticking. If we are not prepared to tell our citizens the truth about this, we are failing them and this planet in the most profound way. Does the Taoiseach accept that his Government is failing the people of this country in the most profound way by bowing down to big tech corporations and the fossil fuel industry and putting their interests before the needs of our people? It is encapsulated by the strategic gas emergency reserve Bill, which is going to entrench reliance on the dirtiest fossil fuel on the earth - dirtier than coal. The Government is watering down commitments of the climate Act in the Bill to say that they should obey this Act to the extent that they consider practicable. The Taoiseach must reverse course on this.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:38+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-17