I attended a meeting of the European Council on Thursday, 24 March and Friday, 25 March in Brussels. This was the third meeting of EU leaders within a month and since Russia's brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February. Prior to my attendance at the most recent meeting, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, updated the House on my participation at the other meetings - a special meeting of the European Council on 24 February and an informal meeting of the European C…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. In the first instance, we as a society and a country have come through a once-in-a-century event in the pandemic, which in 2020 brought about the greatest recession since 1939. Thankfully, because of the Government's interventions to underpin the economy and support companies and the whole range of measures we brought in, the economy bounced back very significantly as we emerged from the emergency phase of Covid-19. A record number of jobs were created in the process. Notwi…

The Deputy's entire response is political and electoral and nothing more.

Any increase in the carbon tax will be offset, so there will be no additional cost to people.

I said to the Deputy that we need an inclusive process here, involving and including climate change as well. Yesterday's report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, warned that it is now or never to avoid climate catastrophe. That is what the panel said. It warned that humanity has less than three years to halt the rise of planet-warming carbon emissions. The UN Secretary-General, Mr. António Guterres, called out doublespeak on climate. He said that some governments and business leaders were s…

It seems to me that it is the St. Augustine approach you are taking to climate change; "Oh Lord, make me chaste but not yet". That is your approach-----

We can deal with-----

There will be legislation-----

I did not attack the Deputy at all. Do not be playing the victim here. I attacked her party and her party's policy. That is what I did. The Deputy heard me very clearly.

In the context of the carbon tax-----

I have made it very clear that we have already brought down, by about €9 and €12, what would have been the cost for petrol, diesel and so on.

We will make sure that any increase in carbon tax will be offset, but we have to do much more than that. That is my point

My earlier response was that it needs more substance. I heard what the Deputy said on Sunday morning about a mini-budget.

It was so threadbare in substance as to be beyond any credibility.

It was the Sinn Féin Party and its policies that I criticised.

I agree that we face a huge challenge. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Yesterday's report from the IPCC is a stark warning to all governments and to all parliaments that it is going to be impossible to put this matter to one side or defer action. The first item on the agenda today was the carbon tax, as if it was the be all and end all of the increases in fuel energy when we all know it was not and is not. The overwhelming increases in oil and gas have been caused by our coming out of the pandemic and the…

The Cabinet sub-committee on climate change has been meeting regularly. There is an overall Cabinet sub-committee, chaired by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, now dealing with climate change. My Department has a co-ordinating role in terms of the delivery of climate change policy. We have made progress. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act, which is comprehensive legislation, became law in 2021, as the Deputy knows. That legislation fulfilled the commitments in the programme for Government …

Please do.

The Deputy's first premise is wrong, in my view. The overwhelming causes of the increase in energy prices are global. They derive from the pandemic and from the war, without question.

Anyone with any degree of intelligence knows that. I would appreciate if we had less of the heckling and nonsense that is going on here.