I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on the energy crisis. There are three specific crises facing us in this country as regards energy. The first is the most pressing for many households, namely, the rising cost of energy bills. The average household in Ireland is facing significantly increased costs. All 14 of Ireland's energy suppliers have increased prices at least once this year. In September, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities warned that people will face higher charges due to record demand and r…

I am glad to speak on this motion for the Labour Party. It provides a timely opportunity for a debate about the need for better public transport and general transport infrastructure. We will support the motion. I am glad the Government is not opposing it. It is timely, especially with the announcement today relating to the greater Dublin area. The motion refers to transport infrastructure outside Dublin. We might take a moment to ponder just how disappointing today's announcement by the NTA is and what knock-on imp…

I find it very disappointing the Minister, Deputy Ryan, is not here to take the questions. That is not in any way to question the Minister of State, but we would expect that when environment questions are tabled, and they do not come around too often, and it is a momentous day today as we await the publication, finally, of the climate action plan, which will be published this afternoon, that the Minister would be here. It is disappointing and frustrating for Opposition spokespersons on climate, like me, not to have…

I am well aware of the provisions of the legislation. The problem is the Government keeps missing deadlines on climate action. We have seen long delays in the publication of the climate action plan, although it is welcome we are going to see it today. However, it was promised last month. It was promised initially that it would be aligned with the fiscal budget. It is unfortunate it was not. There have been long delays. We are already well into the key decade in which we are to reduce our emissions by 51% by 2030. W…

I am glad the Minister of State accepts that there have been delays. There have been unconscionable delays. I agree, of course, that the world is coming to this too late. However, in our own recent past, we have missed so many deadlines. To coin a phrase, climate action delayed is climate action denied. We now know, with the increasingly urgent warnings about the scale and the speed at which biodiversity is being destroyed and at which the earth is heating up, that there is no time to waste. We will work constructi…

I hope the Minister of State is not casting any aspersions on me personally with that.

My question is to ask the Minister the plans to make the production of green hydrogen more cost-effective within Ireland. Again, this is about seeking answers on how we can meet our targets, particularly targets on the generation of electricity through renewables.

I am very glad to hear there are such moves under way and particularly that we will see in the climate action plan this afternoon a range of initiatives on green hydrogen. I am also pleased to hear the Minister of State's announcement that the Council of energy ministers will discuss this at December's meeting. It is good to hear there are initiatives under way both at European level and here in Ireland. Any engagement I have with stakeholders on how we meet those targets for generation of electricity through renew…

This is a story of hope and positivity, as not so long ago it seemed offshore wind generation and solar panels were too expensive but we have seen the cost of the production of energy from such sources reducing dramatically. We all very much hope the same will happen with green hydrogen. As the Minister of State has acknowledged, we certainly have an opportunity to build out renewables through green hydrogen, among other technologies. This might even allow Ireland to become a green hydrogen exporter in place of bei…

I am glad to speak on behalf of the Labour Party in support of the key principle and purpose of this Bill, namely, to introduce a statutory prohibition on fur farming. Speaking for the Labour Party, and as a long-standing advocate for animal rights, I am very glad to see this legislation come before us. It is receiving a very broad welcome, which is good to see. There is a growing acceptance of the need for such a prohibition, as others have said. We are also all conscious of the need to ensure a just transition be…

I ask the Minister to provide information on the status of the carbon budgets and a clear timeline for the publication of the carbon budgets and the climate action plan. With just over a week to the start of the crucial climate talks at COP26 in Glasgow and with only nine years to the 2030 deadline for the achievement of our ambitious and welcome 51% reduction target, what is lacking is a sense of clarity and urgency in the Government's response in respect of its proposed measures to deal the climate emergency and …

I entirely agree with the Minister about the necessity for urgency and the scale of the challenge facing us. I am somewhat dismayed to hear that it will be 3 November and later in November before we will see consideration by the Government of the draft climate action plan and publication of the carbon budgets. That appears to be quite significant slippage, particularly as COP26 will have started on 31 October. It is a real concern given that these are measures which have had to be in preparation for a long time. We…

I raise an issue relevant to the climate crisis and our biodiversity emergency. It is about water quality in Dublin Bay, in particular. Will the Government provide a timetable for the introduction of an amendment to Statutory Instrument 79 of 2008, the bathing water quality regulations? On foot of a meeting I had with a great organisation, SOS Dublin Bay, we ask that an amendment be introduced to provide local authorities with the discretion to determine the bathing season for the purpose of monitoring water qualit…

I am sorry to hear that. I swam there on Sunday and I have no infection.

Yes.

We will see you on the South Wall.

I will continue the debate on the Child and Family Agency (Amendment) Bill 2021, which we commenced yesterday. I believe I had just moved the adjournment of the debate and so had not yet had the chance to say that the Labour Party is happy to support this Bill. This Bill provides for amendments that might be described as somewhat technical but which are nonetheless important. They give effect to the Taoiseach's announcement of 27 June that certain education welfare functions performed by Tusla are to return to the …

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak on the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality. I listened with great interest to the Minister's speech. It is really good to see us having this debate. I was delighted to read the recommendations of the citizens' assembly in April. What it has done in setting forward the 45 recommendations is present a visionary manifesto for change and for a society genuinely based on gender equality. The Minister quoted an open letter from assembly members in wh…

I am glad to be responding for the first time in this House to a budget. I wish to follow the lead of Deputy Nash by approaching the budget in a constructively critical manner and welcoming what is positive in it while noting, however, that much of the positive change is so piecemeal that, although the budget has been largely and widely leaked in advance of its publication, with a drip-feed of selective positive piecemeal news, the reality is that it has failed to deliver. It has raised expectations without deliver…

I would like discuss the unsustainable mussel dredging on Irish coasts and the operation of SI 461/2021. I am raising this matter because it is something about which I have a particular concern. SI 461/2021 states that mussel dredging opened with effect from 14 September 2021. The statutory instrument provides that persons may fish for mussels between that date and 16 December next. The concern is that this statutory instrument is facilitating about a dozen large boats working around protected Natura 2000 site sand…