Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-27
============================================================

Ivana Bacik (LAB), Dublin Bay South

Today's Environmental Protection Agency report confirms Ireland is nowhere near on-track to meet our climate targets. In fact, we are projected to achieve barely half of the emissions reductions required by law. In that context, the climate Minister’s interview earlier today with David McCullagh on RTÉ was extraordinary. The Minister urged us to look on the bright side throughout but, however he tries to spin it - he is good at spinning - there is no silver lining. The Green Party’s exit from Government marked the death knell of Fianna Fáil’s ambition on climate. Take this year’s climate action plan. The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, has confirmed it will not arrive until quarter 3. A climate plan for 2026 published with just three months left in the year is laughable.
We know why it has not arrived. It is because the Government has no plan and the numbers are getting worse. This is also why the Government sat on the land use review for months on end. Emissions from that sector are projected to soar by more than 70%. Michael Healy-Rae may have resigned as Minister of State but we now know he is far from the most sizeable thing being emitted from the forestry sector. While emissions rise, the Government is dismantling crucial protections for our environment. Take the Critical Infrastructure Bill. It fundamentally undermines the climate Act, allowing major infrastructure projects to bypass climate considerations entirely. This was a sly move by the Government and, appallingly, it was supported by almost all Opposition parties, except for the Labour Party and the Green Party. A false choice has been cynically presented: Ireland must either build infrastructure or decarbonise. That is nonsense.
We know we can build homes, transport and energy infrastructure while also cutting emissions. As our Labour Party climate spokesperson, Ciarán Ahern TD, has pointed out, other countries are doing this. The Government is doing neither at the scale required. Ireland’s infrastructure deficit is our single biggest economic challenge. Offshore wind is delayed.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-27