Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2021-07-05
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Lynn Boylan (SF), Agricultural Panel

I will be brief, as Senator Higgins has covered many of the points I was going to make. The Minister of State has made the case as to why this amendment is essential. Nobody would want to take the Government to court. We would rather the Government do what it signed up to do in legislation but, unfortunately, the reality is that citizens have had to hold Governments to account. The Minister of State would have supported the climate case and it had a very successful result. It proves that taking the Government to court is necessary in some cases and is an effective mechanism. It is becoming increasingly popular internationally to force governments' hands. The Minister of State has said we just need to bring people along with us, people are already there, they were marching on the streets for climate action. We cannot leave it simply with the Government saying "trust us, we will do this". We need to have it legally binding in the Bill to hold the Government to account and that will future-proof it for future Governments. I urge the Minister of State to reconsider the amendment. He has made the case as to why it is very important.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2021-07-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-07-05