Citizens’ Assembly climate report
Deputy Eamon Ryan asks what the Government will do with the Citizens’ Assembly report on climate change and how it will affect legislation, mitigation plans and budgets. The Taoiseach says its work informed Project Ireland 2040 and points to measures already taken, including ending coal at Moneypoint in 2025.
The Citizens' Assembly today published its report on climate change. Anyone who was present for its work on the issue would say it did a fantastic job. It got the best people in to give an overview of the relevant science and solutions, and came up with practical solutions in the areas of transport, agriculture and energy commensurate with the scale of the challenge we face. What does the Government intend doing with the report of the Citizens' Assembly and its recommendations? What effect will it have on the Government's legislative process, the national mitigation plan and Government budgets and actions? The Citizens' Assembly was very clear and practical and is very strongly supported by the environmental community and everyone interested in the climate issue. What will the Government do with it next?
Comment on this
I thought the report was published some time ago as I recall reading it, although perhaps that was a draft and the report was only formally published today. The deliberations and outcome of the Citizens' Assembly consideration of climate change very much informed Project Ireland 2040, the largest single element of which is the €22 billion to be invested by the State and semi-State bodies in dealing with climate change. For example, it proposes taking coal off the grid by ending the burning of coal in Moneypoint in 2025, that all new buses bought by Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann from next year on will be low emission vehicles, and banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars from 2030.