As we are smack bang in the middle of climate action week, I would like to address the issue of empowering our young people. We say education is power. Questions of how to relate to issues concerning our environment, how to take climate action without feeling paralysed by the mountain ahead of us with regard to changing from a fossil-fuel based lifestyle to one based on new technologies, and how to become a zero carbon economy and society are very challenging. Young people can be very concerned about this.

One of the proposals in the Government's climate action plan is a short course in the junior cycle in secondary schools to better inform young people so people might make decisions allowing for individual responsibility and take control of the situation, so to speak. We know it is an issue of considerable interest to many young people. We have seen young people get involved in debates and we had young people attending the Committee on Climate Action on which I sit. They all want to get involved and be proactive. We have also seen them protest. I look at it running in the same way as the green schools certificates operated by An Taisce. They are very beneficial in that they give our young people a rounded life experience and an education for life. The better we understand the place we live in and the planet we live on, the better decisions and choices we can make. This is for all generations, old and young.

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment has examined the curriculum on sustainable development and has made a number of recommendations on how it can be developed. I would like to see an emphasis on this and it being developed and rolled out to our young people in conjunction with the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, and other key stakeholders. We would be doing them a great service.

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for giving me the opportunity to come in at this late hour. I want to speak about the beef industry and the significant news that broke this morning regarding major movement in the Chinese market, which has seen a tenfold increase this year, which is something we need to welcome. The beef industry has gone through turmoil in the past eight or ten months. The news that has broken is significant as we have seen our exports go from €7 million last year to almost €21 million in the first eight months of this year. To see another 14 factories licensed by China to send product there is something we need to welcome. It is a real step forward for the beef industry. It is great news after a very tough year. We need to start talking up the industry. Our beef industry and product is one of the best in the world and we are opening markets throughout the world to deal with an oversupply of beef, mainly because of the Brexit fluctuation we have at present. This is something we need to acknowledge and do more work on to ensure we get more markets. We need these markets to ensure we have a sustainable and progressive meat industry that can supply the meat the world is looking for.