Read the record. I will come back in on a supplementary comment.

Read the record. I did not say that.

No, it is not. What I accused the Deputy of was being fixated with LNG and with a floating strategic gas reserve that we actually need. It has been very clearly set out that the fact that we do not have a strategic gas reserve is a risk to our society, our country and our energy stability. I did not mention climate in my response to the Deputy at the start or accuse him of being fixated with climate change. I am; I am the Minister responsible for climate. I am the Minister responsible for ensuring we increase our r…

The Deputy does not support any of the measures we have brought forward, such as the marine planning Act, the planning Act or anything like that.

Everything from his side is purely oppositional for the sake of opposition. There is a serious global climate crisis. We are all aware of that and should be working together to accelerate the delivery of renewables. Gas demand will not start to decrease until approximately 2035. It will be a transitionary fuel. As I said to Deputies in response to earlier questions, we should compare the situation with where we have come from. There is now no peat in our energy system. From June, there will be no coal in our energy…

Why does the Deputy interrupt people all the time?

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 15 together. Local authorities play a key role, working with local communities and businesses, in delivering climate action. The Deputy can be sure of my continued support for local authorities to do that. This role is underpinned by the statutory requirement for each local authority to prepare a local authority climate action plan. Following approval by each council’s elected members, all local authorities adopted their plans in the first quarter of 2024. Galway City Council…

I agree with the Deputy that many communities have been ahead of successive Governments on this but, to be fair, the Government is here to support communities and local authorities. To specifically answer the Deputy's question as regards the financial support for local authorities, first, local authorities have never been better funded than over the past five years. By any fair assessment, if one looks at the funding streams and the level of funding they have received, it has been very significant. This is particul…

I know that the Deputy is a big supporter of the initiative and is passionate about it. Last week, I met one of her constituents, a múinteoir as Na Forbacha, through the Irish cycling network. Bhíomar ag caint faoin stailc agus na fadhbanna sna Forbacha agus i mBearna freisin. Déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall cabhair a thabhairt do na daoine i mBearna agus sna Forbacha. In relation to the overall subject, I am happy to look specifically, as an example, at the CARO in Galway. We are about ten weeks into this job and all of…

Even for you, you are in gas form this morning. There is a reason the climate action plan was not published. It was a thing called the general election and Government formation. That has been done. The climate action plan will be coming to the Government within the next two weeks and it will be published then. In addition, we have no Oireachtas joint committee at the moment and that needs to happen, so there were reasons. There was nothing taken out and, if anything, we have added to it. I am looking forward to get…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Leas-Chathaoirleach agus déanaim comhghairdeas léi as ucht a poist nua. Go n-éirí an t-ádh léi. I thank the Senators and it is a pleasure to be here this evening on Committee Stage of this Bill. The reason this Bill is on Committee Stage is that, as the Senators who sponsored the Bill will know, the timed amendment has elapsed and the Government is not opposing this Bill on Committee Stage. There is no mechanism to do so. There is a significant amount of work to be done. I will address a co…

Telling lies.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

Calm down, Paul.

I listened with incredulity earlier to the arch-propagandist, arch-revisionist Mary Lou McDonald alleging a co-ordinated and concerted plan by the Government to silence the Opposition. Anyone looking in over the course of the past ten weeks would know that the only co-ordinated and concerted plan was the Opposition's plan. This was led by Sinn Féin. I note with some degree of disappointment and sorrow that it was aided and abetted by the Labour Party. That party was led by the nose in these debates to continue to d…

What Sinn Féin has chosen to do over the last ten weeks is to prioritise this above all else. Sinn Féin has always been about Sinn Féin. It is Sinn Féin first-----

-----and country second or maybe third. It is all about Sinn Féin. If we park the politics, Deputy McDonald has to be honest with herself.

She should look at-----

-----the way her Deputies treated the Ceann Comhairle last week. The level of hatred and vitriol and the abuse the Ceann Comhairle had to put up with as she was discharging her duties correctly was absolutely reprehensible. I hope that, after ten weeks, the Deputies will get back to doing the work they are elected to do. Yes, they should hold the Government to account but they should also do their work.

It is the same thing.