Yes, it will. We do not have an option.

We do not have an option in Irish law. The law we have written is one of the strongest climate laws in the world. We do not have an option. The Deputy will have heard the President of the European Commission, Dr. von der Leyen, speaking here only two or three weeks ago, saying this is the centre of the European strategy and a whole swathe of European law, which is steering us in that direction. We have to deliver on that ambition.

I believe that the Irish business community, but, more importantly, the Irish people, want to and will do this. It takes time to turn this complete ship of State - all of it - around but we will do it. What is the best way? We learnt a great deal in Covid. We learnt that Government works best when it works in teams outside of the normal silos of Departments. We are busy establishing task force teams that bring in academic expertise, the agencies and other Departments and that act transparently by going on a regular…

This week, we will start to see the consents being provided for the first phase of offshore projects. Next spring, subject to them going through an auction process that we are establishing now, they will go into the planning system. The planning constraint is the biggest. We have to expand An Bord Pleanála dramatically and speed up our whole planning process because it is killing us at present, in housing and environment in a range of different ways. I believe we can and will do that. All this will happen in the li…

Yes, we need to change forestry. The felling licence system has been changed and we will deliver it.

We switch to tillage and to organic. It is happening. Look at the applications for the new environmental agri scheme - they have blown way beyond what was expected. Look at the farm visits that are taking place when organic farmers open their farms. There are hundreds of farmers going along because they realise they could save money by not having to spend so much on expensive fertiliser. To respond to what Deputy Lowry said earlier, we start by listening to everyone and by respecting everyone. I agree absolutely wi…

Those pathfinder projects are showing our local government system how we can act fast, use budgets well and get local support for what are going to be difficult decisions about reallocating space, doing things differently, taking out parking, creating high-quality bus corridors and other mechanisms to save us from gridlock as well as reducing our emissions. I am sorry for going on so long on climate but it is important. I salute the incredible job my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integr…

It is not easy. No one wants anyone in a tent at all, least of all the Minister and his team, but they have done everything to do this in a compassionate way and we cannot stop. As President von der Leyen said, we need that stubborn optimism where we do take more. We do not know how long this war is going to go on and there is no certainty on this, but closing our door is not an option. I have every confidence in the Minister and his team to deliver on that and to take up what the Taoiseach said earlier about a foc…

-----and shown how in government we could turn what was a disastrous system into a highly effective one. We need to do more work. The most important project we have to do in government, which was in the programme for Government, is the land use review. It is a high-level overview of what is happening in our country in terms of the destruction of nature-----

-----the pollution of our waters and ongoing carbon emissions.

We now have to start planning. It is not just about climate. There are three ecological crises facing us, namely, climate, biodiversity loss and pollution. We have to face all three in our country. The recent EPA figures from the south-east of our country show the water is saturated with nitrogen. That has to stop. Our waters should not only run free; they should be clean at the same time.

That is what we need to deliver. We are halfway through that project in this Government.

We have done the first phase in terms of an evidence base, and we will do the next phase working in the same way, whereby we listen to different communities, sectors and academics. The Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, will deliver on marine protected areas. We will have a science-based ecological understanding at the centre of what we do. That is what we are going to deliver in the next two years.

With the forbearance of the Acting Chairman, I, like other Deputies, pass on my condolences to the family of the soldier who died in Lebanon last night. Our thoughts are with those who were wounded. We wish them a speedy recovery. They do remarkable work and take enormous risks on our behalf and on behalf of the people of the world who are most threatened. I am sure other Deputies would reflect and share the same sense of grief and loss that everyone feels for that family.

I will turn to the climate action plan, which is due to go to the Government on Tuesday. It will be published. I heard some Deputies say we could have debated the plan this week. I would have preferred to do that but we will have plenty of time. There will be time over the Christmas break for Deputies to be able to read what is quite a long document. I hope to have an extensive debate in the new year, which would be just as appropriate if not more so. It will give us time to consider and listen to some of the views…

We are heading the wrong direction but we are turning this ship and State around. I am absolutely convinced that we can do it. We will be good at it. It is challenging. The statistics I read this morning indicate that our economy has expected growth of 8% this year. That is not an excuse but a reality. We have a massive increase in population. Our targets are not set on a per capita basis, they are fixed quantum so when an additional 70,000 people come into the country, and in fact there are far more if we include …

We cannot predict forward to 2025 yet.

There are challenges. I use the word "can". It is not certain. It will require incredible change, a scale of change that nobody really understands yet in the political system. Work being done here is on the basis of real, detailed modelling of what is actually happening in our country and what would happen if we took certain steps. If we look at that SEAI press release and what it says about what we need to do to get back on track, and we need to come back on track, those are the broad measures that are included in…

The review of the security of energy supply of Ireland's electricity and natural gas systems is focused on the period to 2030, but in the context of ensuring a sustainable transition up to 2050. The review is considering the risks to both natural gas and electricity supplies and a range of measures required to address these risks. This includes the need for additional capacity of indigenous renewable energy and also the need to import energy, energy storage, fuel diversification and renewable gases such as hydrogen…

I saw the reports in The Business Post but I have not read the full briefing documents. The issue of methane is somewhat separate to the energy security issue. It relates primarily to our climate targets and the need to reduce those short-lived greenhouse gases. We are committed within the European Union, in the wider global context, to deliver on that 30% methane reduction. I attended a meeting of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition in COP27 in Egypt. The Climate and Clean Air Coalition is the United Nations body …