Environment and climate debate
Eamon Ryan criticised the Taoiseach for not mentioning the environment and asked if he would allow a debate. The Taoiseach replied that speeches cannot cover everything, pointed to Project Ireland 2040 and climate funding, and said debate scheduling is decided by the Business Committee.
I too was glad to be at the national economic dialogue. I heard the Taoiseach's speech setting out the vision for the country. I thought it was disgraceful that the Taoiseach never once mentioned the need to protect our environment or change our reputation in that regard. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, who also spoke, tried to restore the Taoiseach's reputation when he stated that the Government is going to be great at the environment and that we are going to be particularly good at recycling. Does this mean that the Taoiseach will allow the Waste Reduction Bill, which was introduced a year ago, by the Labour Party and ourselves, to proceed to Committee Stage? The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, is throwing around all sorts of figures and arguments in respect of this matter but no one knows what he is saying. We need to debate the Bill to which I refer, which is a core measure in the context of tackling the recycling issue. That is one of the many environmental issues which we need to tackle and which the Taoiseach completely ignored this morning. Will the Taoiseach issue the money message and allow us to debate the Waste Reduction Bill and try to restore some kind of reputation for this country?
Comment on this
The House will appreciate that no matter how long a speech one makes, there will always be something that one either does not mention or does not mention enough.
Comment on this
That is a standard criticism of any speech that anyone makes. I am not a person for long speeches. I did, of course, refer on several occasions to Project Ireland 2040 and Deputy Eamon Ryan will know that the biggest-----