Having been denied the opportunity to tease out some of the provisions of this legislation by the decision to waive pre-legislative scrutiny, giving a mere 60 minutes to the debate on Report Stage is entirely inappropriate. I have deep concerns about what the Government is doing tonight. It is seeking to undermine the climate action Act by the back door. More significantly, by the provision of section 7 of this legislation which disapplies section 15 of the climate action Act, it is actually going to make it more l…

I will come back to the central issue of whether this Bill will make it more or less likely that judicial reviews will be taken, and also the question of whether it will mean judicial reviews are more or less likely to be successful after they are taken. The Minister noted that there have been academic articles discussing the impact of the climate Act. He said this is tangible evidence of the risk of section 15 of the climate Act. I am sure those particular academics are absolutely delighted now to have the Ministe…

Kilkenny is well represented in the Chair this morning. I wish to ask the Minister for Transport for an update on the roll-out of the planned O route, which is the inner orbital route, as part of the BusConnects project in Dublin.

One of the most difficult things to do in public transport in Dublin is get across the city rather than in and out of it. That is why those orbital routes are so important. The BusConnects O route will connect communities across Dublin city centre, from Infirmary Road in the west and North Strand in East Wall to across the Liffey and around the South Circular Road back to Heuston Station. Running in both directions, it will be the first true orbital route. It is the circuit that will link all the different spines o…

We are missing an opportunity if we do not speed up the introduction of this O route. Running buses in both directions in a circuit around Dublin city centre will change the way people get around the city. There is one point about which I am concerned. My understanding, from comments an NTA official made to me, is that the roll-out of the O route might be split into two semi-circles, with only the southern portion being introduced first. That absolutely misses the point of an orbital route. It would also be unfair …

Over the weekend, the Tánaiste stated that the Government is exploring one-off payments towards environmentally-friendly measures such as heat pumps and efficient cars. I welcome that the Government is looking at how it can support householders more. My worry is by floating for potential of new grants without a timeline, there is some risk people will defer big decisions on new EVs or heat pumps until there is clarity. One comment on my social media was as follows: "Yep, we were about to pull the trigger on a heat …

Over the weekend the Tánaiste stated he was exploring one-off payments towards environmentally friendly energy measures such as heat pumps and efficient cars. I welcome the fact the Government is giving consideration to how it can do more to protect households and how it can make them more energy efficient and cut their bills. However, when it comes to offering new grants there is a problem with floating an idea and then taking a long time to deliver on it. If there is talk of additional financial supports coming d…

There is real anger about the fact that this report that was handed over to the Department in July still has not been published. The Minister was involved in the establishment of this task force, so I do not need to go into the entire history. Before the 2024 general election, when there was a real crisis in Dublin 15 about lack of places for autism classes and in special schools, the Government, which I was a part of, made a decision to establish the task force to address the issue. The Minister of State set out t…

In Dublin 15, it has been parents and educators who have provided the leadership when it comes to special education. Danu Community Special School has a large number of autism classes. It was driven forward by the Dublin 15 autism group. The common application system, which is where, for the first time, a family only has to apply in one location and that application is sent for autism classes across 18 primary schools was driven forward by the Dublin 15 Principals' Network and Helena Trench in particular. That is w…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises that the triple planetary crises of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss are an existential threat to humanity; notes that the 22nd of April, is Earth Day, where people around the world are called to stand in defence of the only home we share; declared a climate and biodiversity emergency, becoming the second national parliament in the world to do so, and in so doing recognised the importance of Ireland responding to these crises in 2019; further recognises that: — …

-----and right now we have the financial resources to support the development of these new industries.

Let us not wait until the next war or the next fuel crisis; let us act now.

I thank Deputies for their contributions to this debate, particularly those Deputies who indicated their support for my motion. In the effort to try to find a bit of common ground among Deputies who disagreed, I was delighted to hear Deputy Michael Collins speak about supporting one of his constituents who is trying to move transport and heavy goods vehicles, HGVs, onto a battery source. I recommend the Deputy look at the zero-emission heavy duty vehicle purchase grant scheme that is in place. In my time as Ministe…

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle. At Cabinet today I understand the Government approved Robert Watt to head the special purpose vehicle, SPV, charged with addressing dereliction in Dublin city centre. His appointment comes a full 18 months after the report of the Dublin city task force was published but, helpfully, 24 hours before the writ is moved for the Dublin Central by-election. The task force report proposed a set of ten recommendations, or ten big moves, for the city. Tackling vacancy and dereliction and bringi…

The Taoiseach says the Government will not be found wanting and he has listed a number of undoubtedly valuable projects, like the Moore Street regeneration. However, these were in train years before the Dublin task force published its report. The whole idea behind setting up the task force was because additionality was needed to move the dial within Dublin's city centre. It was never meant to be a repackaging of stuff we were doing already. The Taoiseach says he has been out canvassing, and I am sure he will be bac…

Will the Tánaiste give us an account of his Department's assessment of the shortfall in revenue from the deferral of the carbon tax increase?

On the evening we voted on the financial resolutions, I noted that the Tánaiste's decision to defer that increase shattered that coalition that had existed in this House across Government and some parts of the Opposition where difficult votes to support the carbon tax had been taken. I genuinely have to ask why. As the Tánaiste pointed out, the value forgone is actually very small in terms of the overall package, €22 million out of €505 million. It is 4.3%. I spoke to a number of Fianna Fáil backbenchers the next d…

The Tánaiste has spoken about common sense and it not making sense now to allow these increases to take place but he has to recognise the precedent that he set he it suspended the carbon tax increase because of the blockades in our streets. The Tánaiste has to understand that the people who have seen him bend and break now will anticipate that he will do it again and will look to put that same level pressure on it when it comes to the next set of decisions coming in October of this year. When it comes to October of…

I thank colleagues in Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion. In my constituency, Dublin West, we have seen sustained challenges over many years in respect of parents being able to secure appropriate places for their children in local schools. I know the Minister and Minister of State are aware of that. Right now, there remain children who I know do not have an appropriate place assigned to them for September at primary and secondary level. The Minister said on the radio last week that no child would be left wit…

I want to ask the Minister, Deputy Chambers, about his intentions through the Critical Infrastructure Bill, particularly section 7, in terms of the removal of the climate duty, a duty on all public bodies to assess the climate impact of infrastructure projects they are advancing.