Last Thursday Deputy Ahern raised the issue of climate with the Tánaiste. In response the Tánaiste said:

The climate emergency has not gone away; far from it. We need to look at how we can accelerate the pace of change that needs to take place.

I agree with the Tánaiste. One thing we should not be doing is appointing a climate denier to lead out on the new EU 2040 climate targets but that is exactly what Fine Gael MEPs voted to do last Wednesday. Last week the European Parliament was considering the process for the EU setting its 2040 climate targets. The Patriots for Europe group - the group of Viktor Orbán and Marine le Pen - managed to get appointed as chief negotiator for the policy. That group proudly declares on its website that it calls for abandoning the European Green Deal, so we have climate change deniers setting the 2040 targets. The Greens in the European Parliament led a vote to stop this but the European People's Party - the party of Fine Gael and the Tánaiste - supported allowing climate deniers set the 2040 targets. What is more, three of the four Fine Gael MEPs - Regina Doherty, Nina Carberry and Seán Kelly - voted to allow this happen.

Globally, we are at a crucial time in our fight to lower emissions. Critical negotiations will take place during COP30 in Belém, Brazil in November. We are all very aware of the position of the new US Administration. That is why the leadership the EU has demonstrated over so many years is so critical. Who leads out on setting the EU climate targets has never been more important. That is why the vote of the European People's Party and the three Fine Gael MEPs could not have come at a worse time. I have a simple question for the Tánaiste: does he think it is a good idea that a climate denier is leading out on the EU's 2040 climate targets? What will he do about it?

I do not, but I do not particularly think it is a good idea that Sinn Féin chairs the Joint Committee on Defence and National Security either. Sometimes that is way things work out in terms of the division of responsibility.

That is disgraceful. That is scandalous.

Am I allowed to have a view?

Scandalous.

Get back into your playpen.

Allow the Tánaiste to answer the question.

What is scandalous about me having the view that I would rather Sinn Féin did not hold that position? What is wrong with that?

That is a slur on Deputy Conway-Walsh and this Chair.

As Deputy O'Gorman will know, I am allowed to have a political view.

That is disgraceful, calling the integrity of a Member of this House into question.

Sure you do it all the time.

Will the Tánaiste please answer Deputy O'Gorman?

The Tánaiste should withdraw that comment.

I have no-----

That is a disgraceful comment against Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh-----

I have no intention-----

-----who is not here to defend herself. It is an absolute slur. It is a cheap stunt because the Tánaiste does not want to answer the questions.

I do not believe Sinn Féin should chair a committee on national security. It is not a shocking position for the leader of Fine Gael to hold that I do not think Sinn Féin should be anywhere near national security. I will continue to hold that view and I will work day and night to make sure it never is.

Disgraceful.

Tánaiste, you are currently dealing with Deputy O'Gorman.

That point I am making to Deputy O'Gorman is this. I understand the rapporteur positions on European parliamentary committees are divided up, if not quite by a d'Hondt system, by a system reflecting the various strengths of parties in the Parliament. Fine Gael only has one MEP, I think, on the environment committee. It is Seán Kelly, who is a substitute member. I also understand there was a procedural vote on the issue, rather than a substantive vote.

With the greatest of respect for committee rapporteurs, we need a sense of perspective. This person will not be the decision-maker and will not be setting the targets. Those are matters for the democratically elected members of the European Parliament. If the Deputy is being fair to my party's record in the European Parliament, as previous Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe was, he will acknowledge the Fine Gael Party has worked very constructively on climate issues. All Fine Gael MEPs voted for the climate restoration law, for example, which was remarked upon positively by Ciarán Cuffe. He singled out Seán Kelly for praise. Only two Irish MEPs did not vote for that: a Sinn Féin MEP and an independent MEP. I am proud of my party's record on climate and of the work the Government and Ireland is doing on climate. We certainly have a lot more work to do in relation to this.

I outlined in the House last week some areas where we need a serious acceleration and I stated the national development plan would be an opportunity to endeavour to accelerate that work. I am happy to look into further detail of the procedural matter but Fine Gael is proudly a party that believes in the need for urgent climate action. I believe anything to do with the rapporteur of the committee was a procedural matter based on the relative strength of parties and groupings in the Parliament.

There was a vote in the European Parliament last week and three Fine Gael MEPs voted for Ondej Knotek as rapporteur on climate policy. During his term in the European Parliament, he said:

[The] policies of climate activists, as you are, are not leading to saving the climate. You are lying to people about that if they will be ambitious, that there will be no floods and so on.... But that's not true. You have no data, you have no science base, you have no impact assessments: you are just lying.

No science, no data - that is your guy, Tánaiste. That is the guy Fine Gael voted to put in this vital role. While the rest of us have moved away from denying the existence of climate change, Fine Gael MEPs have decided to appoint to this crucial role a person who denies there is science linking changes in our climate. Did the Tánaiste know his three MEPs were voting for a far fight climate denier in this essential role?

I do not accept the Deputy’s framing at all. I was endeavouring to engage constructively on this but the Deputy does not wish to, with “our guy” and “my guy” and stuff.

My party's record on climate is very clear, thanks very much. We worked with Deputy O'Gorman in the last Government for five years. We worked with his predecessor, the former Minister, Eamon Ryan, around these issues as well. We have had people like Richard Bruton lead the way and play a very constructive role in terms of climate when he was Minister for climate action.

Our MEPs, I believe, voted on a procedural motion. I do not think phrases like "your guy" is a fair assertion as to what happened. We will continue to work at a European level on climate and we have shown an ability, even within our European grouping, to vote another way if and when we have a different view, even if that view is not universally popular in Ireland but we believe it is the right thing to do by our climate and the planet. That is exactly what the Fine Gael MEPs did in advance of the last European election, despite significant pressure not to do that. If we look at the record of Seán Kelly, in particular, he is someone who represented Europe at the Paris climate agreement talks and at many international fora, including COP21. I am proud of my party's record in relation to climate and I will revert to the Deputy with a little more detail on my understanding of the procedure.