We are running out of time to stop the climate crisis becoming a catastrophe. Every day, every equivocation and every cowardly U-turn makes that work so much harder. We know that people in Ireland are especially worried about the impact of climate change. We only need to look at the recent flooding events in Midleton to get a glimpse of what the future holds. According to new research from the Environmental Protection Agency today, three quarters of people believe that extreme weather poses a risk to their communities. Much of our population lives by the coast or by rivers and they see that rising sea levels and flooding pose risks to their homes, farms and futures. This is why a large majority of people, 79%, say that climate should be a high priority for the Government.

This Government claims that climate is a high priority but time and again we see that its climate rhetoric far exceeds climate action. Government MEPs voted for the nature restoration law in the EU this week. Simultaneously, we have had two separate reports in the past week alone that confirm the Government is nowhere near meeting its targets. The European Commission says Ireland will only reach one quarter of the emissions cuts we need. The Climate Change Advisory Council states the Government is nowhere near meeting the targets it set out for its first carbon budget. When we inevitably miss those legally binding targets in 2030, the country faces the prospect of up to €8 billion in fines from the EU. Imagine what €8 billion could do to improve our biodiversity, expand public transport systems across the country and protect the future of Irish agriculture.

We are so far behind where we need to be now that making up ground will be extremely difficult. At the pace this Government is moving, it will be impossible. Climate action requires more than plans laid out in glossy brochures and watered-down legislation. It requires actually implementing measures that will make a real difference and it means doing so quickly. We cannot wait until next month or next year to start this work. We need climate action yesterday. Instead, this Government is knowingly setting us up for failure. We all know that doing nothing is not an option but equally not doing enough is not an option either. Will the Minister outline what changes the Government will make to avoid this impending disaster and meet our climate targets?

I thank Deputy Cairns for raising this important issue. I will begin by paying tribute to my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, for the leadership he has shown within Government throughout this process. This deserves to be commended. Yesterday was a significant day. The Deputy rightly acknowledged that Government MEPs voted in favour of the nature restoration law in the European Parliament. I am sure she noticed that the main Opposition party's MEP voted against it. That is of particular importance to the Social Democrats considering they are keeping their mind open after the election. I am sure the Social Democrats will want to discuss with Sinn Féin the reason it wishes to remain a climate laggard at a time when the rest of us are trying to pull together and are taking hard political decisions. This is particularly the case in an era of misinformation and disinformation about what this nature restoration law does and does not do. It was disappointing yesterday that some Irish MEPs voted against the proposed nature restoration law but I am pleased that the overwhelming majority voted in favour of it.

Now that the current text has been adopted by the European Parliament without amendment, which is not a small task, with 329 MEPs in favour, we will move forward to the member state approval process. This is expected to take place on 25 March when member states, including the Government on behalf of Ireland, will have a chance to formally adopt this measure as law. It is my understanding that the compromise text is currently going through the various legal processes. The text sees the retention of flexibility gained in the general approach, including an alignment of the marine targets with the marine strategy framework directive, and a move from absolute area targets to increasing trend-based targets for urban ecosystems.

There is a lot of misinformation around the nature restoration law. There is a lot of fearmongering and a lot of people attempting to use it to worry the agricultural community in a way that is inappropriate. What will now happen is that each State will have to come up with its own national plan for how it intends to act on the nature restoration law. We will have time to do that and we will each have to develop a national restoration plan and show how we intend to implement that plan and monitor and report against implementation.

Let us be clear. This is going to require the Government to provide funding mechanisms to help people transition. That is why we made a specific decision in the last budget to set aside some of our economic and financial surplus for a specific fund for climate. This will be required as we begin to develop the financial schemes that will be needed to help people transition.

I am very proud of the record of this Government when it comes to climate. We have taken a number of very important decisions. There has been a 135% increase in funding for wildlife and parklands. We have seen our new national biodiversity plan. There is now a huge increase in the number of homes being retrofitted and the number of people seeking to drive electric vehicles.

There is no denying science in relation to this and there was some worrying commentary today. I heard the director of the Environmental Protection Agency speaking on RTÉ radio this morning about the number of people who still seek to equivocate around climate. There is a climate emergency. It is real and the science is real. The Social Democrats are not doing it but we in this House should not lecture farmers and others and tell them they must do this or that. We need to help people transition. The Government has put a number of measures in place already to do this and will introduce more. Yesterday's adoption of the nature restoration law is a very significant step for Ireland, the bulk of our MEPs and the European Union.

The Minister either did not hear my contribution or questions or he just did not have a defence for our climate targets, which are what I am asking about. While I obviously welcomed the Government MEPs voting for the nature restoration law, I did not ask the Minister about that issue, which is the only one he replied on. The reality is that independent expert groups believe Ireland is on course to massively miss our climate targets. If the Government cannot accept that reality, it is quite worrying. There is no denying the science. Continuing with an incomplete and inadequate climate action plan guarantees failure. Expecting the nature restoration law to change that course is guaranteed failure. If we do not act now, it will devastate the country. The people who will feel the impact first are our farmers, our rural communities and people living in poverty.

Will the Minister tell me what all of the experts who say we will miss our targets are missing if he does not agree? He did not reference our targets. The most recent offshore wind project is 20 years old. The Government promised that a low-interest loan scheme for retrofitting would be in place by 2020 but almost two years later, we still do not have it. A total of 85% of our protected habitats are in poor condition, with 46% in active decline. The list goes on. Does the Minister accept the reality that the Government will not meet its climate targets? He does not accept the science.

Thank you, Deputy. The time is up.

What will the Minister do about it?

Just because someone does not agree with you it does not mean they do not accept the science. I am a Minister for science, for the record.

It is not agreeing with us; it is agreeing with the independent advice.

I very much accept the science and we very much accept the advisory structures we have set up. We very much accept that the challenges and targets which have been set are really difficult. I very much accept that every day, every week and every month it requires the Government to do new things. If we take agriculture, for example, as an area that has a significant focus on it-----

Does the Minister accept the Government will not meet the targets?

No, I accept-----

Please, Deputy. You have asked the question and let us hear the answer.

It would be lovely to answer it. The Government is absolutely bound by the targets and is working to achieve them. Do I accept the targets are extraordinarily challenging? I do but I am pointing out that in this House it has been said, for example, that farming will never reach its targets. This is not true. We are seeing emissions from farming and agriculture drop. We are seeing farmers do their bit and make the difference. We are seeing investment in technology through Science Foundation Ireland to help farms in the Deputy's part of the world in west Cork become carbon neutral in terms of how they deliver. We are seeing a real increase in the investment we are making in the retrofitting of our homes to get 500,000 done by 2030. This is a core part of our plan. We are seeing incentives to help people convert to electric vehicles. We are making the investments and we will make more. I do agree that the climate emergency is real. The science is clear and meeting our targets is absolutely required. We will continue to work across parties to make this happen.