Very briefly, I welcome my mum, Madeleine, to the Gallery. It is extra special that she is here because she is joined by some of her oldest friends, her childhood friends, who are all very welcome.

I am sure the Deputy did not mean oldest. They are some of her best friends. They are very welcome.

Well done, a Cheann Comhairle.

Longest.

Longest term friends.

In her inauguration speech yesterday, Catherine Connolly said climate change is one of the greatest challenges of her time. President Connolly intends to make this a key focus of her Presidency, and I really welcome that. This is especially important given that climate change has fallen way down the Government's agenda. I am sure the Taoiseach will deny that but the facts are the facts. This Government is on course to spectacularly miss its climate targets. I read the speech the Taoiseach delivered at COP30. I agreed with much of it, but I found it hard to square his climate rhetoric with his climate inaction. He implored world leaders to "tell it as it is" and told delegates "we have to go further", but failed to admit we have no hope of meeting our own climate targets. The previous Government committed to a reduction of 51%, but then it made a plan that would at best give rise to a reduction of 23%. On what planet is that in line with what he said at COP?

Separately, in a recent discussion with John Collison, the Taoiseach suggested that some climate projects will have to be shelved because they risk polarising society. However, he failed to outline which projects are going to be scrapped. I want to give him an opportunity to clarify those comments and tell us which projects are not going to go ahead. Will it be public transport projects, renewable energy projects or those involving investment in native forestry? What exactly is the Government going to scrap? Climate inaction represents a missed opportunity for Ireland. We are a small country but we could be a world leader in this area. Instead of scrapping projects and missing targets, we could be developing new technologies and championing green industries.

We could turbocharge investment in offshore wind and protect our waterways. We could become the gold standard in sustainable agriculture. This Government is failing at all of that. We see a lot of short-termism in politics but this is the area in which it is most irreversible and, therefore, most unforgivable. Failing to take real climate action is a betrayal of future generations who will ultimately end up paying the price.

There will be a climate protest this Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. in the Garden of Remembrance. I ask everybody who cares about this issue to come out and make their voices heard because this Government is not listening and we are hurtling towards climate chaos. In advance of the protest, will the Taoiseach tell us how he is going to get to 51%? What climate projects is he going to scrap?

I thank the Deputy for raising what is an existential issue facing humankind. I also welcome her mother, Madeline, and her good friends to the Chamber. I hope they have a very enjoyable day. I will also take this opportunity to wish President Connolly the very best of success in her role as President of Ireland, as we did yesterday.

I fully concur with the objective of addressing the issue of climate change. I have no issue with being overly critical. The last Government actually did engineer a step change in terms of the Government response to climate change. We provided a legislative template. That is very challenging and I do not doubt that. We also undertook a range of initiatives in areas such as offshore renewables, electric vehicles, retrofitting, better environmental practices in farming and utilising carbon tax revenue. We also put carbon tax into legislation and have utilised it to address fuel poverty, to help develop better sustainable farming methods for the farming community and for the retrofitting programme, which has been quite extensive.

To give an example, onshore wind energy provided 48% of Ireland's power last February. Last January, Ireland reached the important milestone of hitting 5 GW of installed onshore wind capacity. In 2023, Ireland was ranked second in the world for onshore wind generation. You will never hear the Opposition acknowledge that. It is as if we are doing nothing. Huge strides are being made. A revolution has happened in terms of onshore wind. The Deputy is correct that we need more new technologies and innovation but we are seen as one of the best in terms of integrating renewables into the grid. That is a good thing.

The next big step change has to be offshore wind generation. We are pushing as fast and as best we can. I will come back to that in a moment. I have established a clearing house. This means bringing industry in to meet with Government Departments in a committee structure to make sure we can remove barriers and accelerate the development of offshore wind in line with the designated maritime area plans, DMAPs, proper procedures and so forth.

Wastewater is very important in terms of a clean environment, water quality and so on, and yet a great many people are opposing wastewater treatment plants, including some from the environmental sector. It beggars belief when you think about it. The objective is to clean the water before it goes into our rivers and seas and yet there are interminable delays because of judicial reviews. That is a factor. I hope that when it comes to the offshore wind agenda, we do not see objections to it because it is vital to the climate change agenda in this country, emissions reductions and reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels, which is driving up costs and causing real challenges for us.

There is so much spin in the Taoiseach's reply that it is difficult to know where to start. We have less offshore wind production than we did 20 years ago. That is the reality. I recognise that the climate Act was good but it is about delivery. The target was 51%. The Government made a plan to reach 23% and even that did not happen. The reality is that the Taoiseach's Government's record is one of abject failure. When the Social Democrats try to point that out, his approach is to misrepresent our position. That is especially true when it comes to the nitrates derogation, for example.

The fact is - we all know it - that applying huge amounts of nitrogen to the land is damaging our water quality. That is not my opinion, that is what the Environmental Protection Agency has said time again. That is why it is going to be so difficult to retain the derogation. Pointing that out was sabotage according to one of the Taoiseach's party's MEPs. That is the way they bizarrely put it, when it is actually just a fact.

I thank the Deputy.

What is also a fact is that this Government is leading farmers to a cliff edge. If the derogation is not renewed or is further cut, what is the Government going to do?

The time is up.

The Taoiseach did not answer my question about whether we are going to reach the 51%, and how we will get there. Maybe he can answer this question.

I call on the Taoiseach to respond.

What is the plan B for farmers when the derogation is inevitably cut?