Government should stop delaying progress on Climate Action legislation

Labour Senator, Ivana Bacik, has called on Fine Gael and the Independent Alliance to stop delaying the progression of pieces of legislation put forward by opposition parties designed to compact climate change.

Senator Bacik will be joining climate change activists tomorrow outside Leinster House tomorrow, Friday 7th December.

Commenting today, Senator Bacik said:

"This Government has made no substantial commitment to the reduction of carbon emissions in Ireland. We already know that Ireland will fall 95% short of the emissions reductions we committed to reaching by 2020.

"The Minister says that he wants Ireland to be a leader in climate change action, yet his government turned down the opportunity to lead on the issue in the last budget when they refused to introduce a Carbon Tax.

"The reality is that this government talks a big talk on climate change, but when it comes down to delivering they have failed, yet again.

"To add insult to injury, the government have consistently ignored opposition parties attempt to progress legislation. Labour has introduced a Microplastics Bill, which we have been promised would instead be replaced by a government bill on the same issues - we have yet to see that progress through the Oireachtas. Labour and the Green Party have jointly produced the Waste Reduction Bill. Sinn Fein has produced a Microgeneration Bill and PBP has the Climate Emergency Bill.

"None of these have been expedited or adopted by the government but simply met with commitments from the government that they will deal with the issue in the future with their own legislation, which subsequently never materialises."