Tá dhá cheist agam. Baineann an chéad ceann leis an Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill. Tá mé ag lorg díospóireachta ar ábhar eile chomh maith. The Taoiseach said we had signed the Istanbul Convention, but we have not brought in the necessary legislation, so we are in breach of a convention we have signed. The Taoiseach said the other day, in response to my question, that the normal course of events would be to bring in legislation first, so I am curious about the sequencing in this matter.

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill is before the Seanad at the moment. In a response to me during questions two weeks ago, the Taoiseach acknowledged that the potential financial penalties facing this State if we failed to meet climate change targets could be as much as €5 billion or €6 billion. He said this was astronomical. The Paris climate change conference will take place next Monday. Will the Taoiseach commit to a debate on the conference, which concludes on 11 December? When does he expect the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill to be brought to the Dáil?

My presumption is that there is a requirement for a Dáil debate before Irish troops can be sent overseas if their number exceeds 12. The French Government has invoked Article 42.7 of the Lisbon treaty following the dreadful attacks in Paris, which states, "If a Member State is the victim of armed aggression on its territory, the other Member States shall have towards it an obligation of aid and assistance". The Taoiseach has already publicly indicated a willingness to use Irish troops to replace French troops in Mali. Our party is opposed to the deployment of Irish troops on an EU training mission, as opposed to a UN-designated peacekeeping mission. Will the Taoiseach hold a debate in the Dáil on any decision the Government may take on this issue?

Legislation on domestic violence is being updated now. The Istanbul Convention sets out the roadmap and the Minister for Justice and Equality is dealing diligently with the consolidated and reformed domestic violence Bill. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill is in the Seanad today and amendments will be taken. I expect it will come back to the Dáil in the second week in December. It will be a challenging technical position for Ireland, particularly for 2020-2030, and we want to play our part but we also want achievable and realistic targets, given the fact that our profile in the non-traded sector is very different from that of every other European country. It is a real challenge to make everybody understand exactly what that means.

On the question of assistance towards another European country, clearly, any requests that are received will be considered, but there are constraints on Ireland in terms of what we can do as a neutral country. We participate in the EU official training programme as one of 22 countries in Mali and we assist the United Nations as part of peacekeeping missions in the Lebanon, etc. Any decision made by Government on this will, of course, be brought before the House.