Yesterday, the Taoiseach spoke about the importance of honesty, but does he not need to be honest with the people about the climate action plan? Clearly, that plan is failing, and spectacularly so, it must be said. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, even if every planned measure in the plan was implemented in full, our emissions would only be reduced by 28%. The legally binding target is 51%. With just eight years to go to reach this target, our emissions are going up not down. Last year, our emissions increased by 6%. The Taoiseach says all the right things when it comes to the climate crisis: that climate change is the single greatest threat facing humanity and that the time to act is now. We all agree with that but climate rhetoric is not climate action. There is a plan, but little or no implementation. Even if there were, the planned measures are not sufficient to allow us to reach our targets.

It is as if the Government is setting us up to fail. That failure will not just be felt by the current generation, but by future generations also. If our emissions keep rising over the course of the lifetime of the Government, we will have lost the opportunity to reach our climate targets by 2030. There would simply be too much ground to make up and not enough time. Of course there are changes that we all must make but there are certain changes that can only be made by the Government. The public cannot put restrictions on the development of data centres, for example, which now use more electricity than all of the rural homes in this country. Neither can the public ensure a coherent planning and regulatory system is in place to develop our offshore wind potential, incentivise farmers to diversify or introduce a retrofitting scheme that people can actually afford. That is the Taoiseach's job. The big, bold measures that are needed, such as massive public infrastructure and projects like the metro to get people out of their cars are simply not happening quickly enough. Meeting our climate targets will not be easy. We all know that, and nobody should pretend that they will be, but we need a fighting chance, and we are not getting it from the Government.

First, what immediate changes is the Government going to make in response to the EPA report? Second, is it going to make changes to the retrofit scheme to make it more affordable for ordinary people? Third, when does he expect to see our emissions actually reduce?

First, I disagree with the Deputy's analysis of the Government's commitment to climate change. This Government has introduced some of the most significant climate change legislation. The targets we have set are unprecedented. They create a legal obligation on the Government and future governments, which is the first requirement. For example, we introduced the carbon tax, which gives resources both now and in the future to deal with fuel poverty and retrofitting. It gives the funding to enable retrofitting to happen. That is provided for in legislation in the terms of the publication of the climate action plan, it will be very challenging. That is why we need everybody in the House on board in respect of the actions that have to be taken. I do not know whether Deputy Shortall continues to support the increases in carbon tax. I am not clear how she responded to the turf issue recently. She seemed to box in different directions and articulate against the Government on that.

No, we have been very clear about that.

In my view, the plan that we have put forward is transformative. It details what we must do to meet this challenge in terms of reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions by 51% by 2030. I agree with the EPA that implementation is key, in terms of the urgent implementation of climate plans and policies. The sectoral emissions ceilings will be brought before the Cabinet shortly by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan. Without question, all sectors will have to play a role. Significant progress is being made across the board. What we are doing now will set the foundations for transformative change in respect of our climate performance as a country in terms of reducing emissions. The legislation we passed, which met opposition from quite a number of Members, and the measures we have taken, give us a foundation and a base but each sector of the economy and society will have to step up in terms of its performance and in getting emissions reduced. That is the clear commitment of the Government in terms of behavioural change that we are bringing about through a range of instruments at our disposal - taxation, incentives, and various initiatives we have taken in agriculture, enterprise and in respect of the energy efficiency side. The retrofitting grants are the most extensive yet announced. The allocation of resources has been significant, but more important, we have given the industry in that area a clear timeline to the end of the decade, by virtue of the carbon tax. We have given it a clear indication that it can be certain about that revenue stream to enable us to retrofit thousands of houses.

The Taoiseach cannot argue with the figures. The emissions are going up, not down, and they have increased by 6% in the past year. The strategy is not working. The Government needs to do an awful lot more. Just today, the EPA said a step up, both in the implementation of actions already set out in plans and policies and in the identification of new measures, is needed.

What are those new measures? Will the Taoiseach tell us what they are?

He has been promising sectoral plans for a long time now. When exactly will we see them?

It will be very shortly. The Minister will bring it before Cabinet and we will then bring it to the Dáil. He is adhering to the timeline he has set.

Will the Taoiseach put a date on it?

There is a whole range of targets in the climate action plan across the board-----

Where are they?

-----including for electric vehicles, retrofitting, riparian schemes in agriculture, which we have developed and will shortly be announced by the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Hackett, in respect of the growing of trees adjacent to waterways and rivers and so on.

When?

A lot of progress has been made.

When will we see them?

A lot of hard work has gone into this in terms of the engagement, Department by Department, with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications in respect of the ceilings each sector will have to achieve.

When will we see them?

I said it would be shortly. When we bring it before the Government, we will bring it before-----

The Taoiseach has been saying that for a long time. When will we see them?

I have not been saying it for a long time.

You have.

The Deputy should allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption.

The Minister has been very clear in outlining the various steps that have to be taken from the publication of the plan onwards.