Darragh O'Brien

No, it is not. What I accused the Deputy of was being fixated with LNG and with a floating strategic gas reserve that we actually need. It has been very clearly set out that the fact that we do not have a strategic gas reserve is a risk to our society, our country and our energy stability. I did not mention climate in my response to the Deputy at the start or accuse him of being fixated with clima…

The Deputy does not support any of the measures we have brought forward, such as the marine planning Act, the planning Act or anything like that.

Everything from his side is purely oppositional for the sake of opposition. There is a serious global climate crisis. We are all aware of that and should be working together to accelerate the delivery of renewables. Gas demand will not start to decrease until approximately 2035. It will be a transitionary fuel. As I said to Deputies in response to earlier questions, we should compare the situation…

Why does the Deputy interrupt people all the time?

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 and 15 together. Local authorities play a key role, working with local communities and businesses, in delivering climate action. The Deputy can be sure of my continued support for local authorities to do that. This role is underpinned by the statutory requirement for each local authority to prepare a local authority climate action plan. Following approval by ea…

I agree with the Deputy that many communities have been ahead of successive Governments on this but, to be fair, the Government is here to support communities and local authorities. To specifically answer the Deputy's question as regards the financial support for local authorities, first, local authorities have never been better funded than over the past five years. By any fair assessment, if one…

I know that the Deputy is a big supporter of the initiative and is passionate about it. Last week, I met one of her constituents, a múinteoir as Na Forbacha, through the Irish cycling network. Bhíomar ag caint faoin stailc agus na fadhbanna sna Forbacha agus i mBearna freisin. Déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall cabhair a thabhairt do na daoine i mBearna agus sna Forbacha. In relation to the overall subjec…

Even for you, you are in gas form this morning. There is a reason the climate action plan was not published. It was a thing called the general election and Government formation. That has been done. The climate action plan will be coming to the Government within the next two weeks and it will be published then. In addition, we have no Oireachtas joint committee at the moment and that needs to happe…

Telling lies.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

Calm down, Paul.

I listened with incredulity earlier to the arch-propagandist, arch-revisionist Mary Lou McDonald alleging a co-ordinated and concerted plan by the Government to silence the Opposition. Anyone looking in over the course of the past ten weeks would know that the only co-ordinated and concerted plan was the Opposition's plan. This was led by Sinn Féin. I note with some degree of disappointment and s…

What Sinn Féin has chosen to do over the last ten weeks is to prioritise this above all else. Sinn Féin has always been about Sinn Féin. It is Sinn Féin first-----

-----and country second or maybe third. It is all about Sinn Féin. If we park the politics, Deputy McDonald has to be honest with herself.

She should look at-----

-----the way her Deputies treated the Ceann Comhairle last week. The level of hatred and vitriol and the abuse the Ceann Comhairle had to put up with as she was discharging her duties correctly was absolutely reprehensible. I hope that, after ten weeks, the Deputies will get back to doing the work they are elected to do. Yes, they should hold the Government to account but they should also do their…

It is the same thing.

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Leas-Cheann Comhairle as ucht a phoist nua. Congratulations on your new post, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I thank the Deputy for his question as I know that this is a matter of interest to him and to many Deputies within the House. I certainly know that by the number of queries that I have received over the past week or so. The improvement and maintenance of regional an…

Tá am breise ag an Teachta anocht. There is no kite flying on this. This is real money for roads across the country. We announced them and people will see the network of roads. As part of this investment in 2025, just under €48 million is being invested in developing and upgrading this infrastructure through vital strategic projects. The Deputy will be familiar with some of them. These include pro…

All of us want to see further improvements in the road network and in particular when we look at regional and local roads. I do not think anyone can dispute the investment for 2025 is very significant. Will it do every regional and local road across the country? Of course it will not. You must have a works programme as well and the capacity to deliver those programmes. That is what I and the Minis…

I thank the Deputy for this important question on transport sectoral emissions. My Department's national investment framework for transport in Ireland, NIFTI, sets out modal and intervention hierarchies to achieve transport objectives. One of the four priorities is decarbonisation and as such, the sponsoring agency of any road project must consider any potential positive or negative impacts of a g…

There is a balance to be struck here. I am glad the Deputy mentioned the CCAC and IFAC contribution today which I very much welcome. It does show the challenge in a growing economy. Thankfully we have full employment. Deputy Pa Daly already mentioned his view that there are infrastructural deficits and there are as well. We need to build more roads and we need more investment in rail. We will do t…

The Deputy mentioned a number of things. On active travel, earlier this year he will have seen the NTA announcements, with very significant funding. Tomorrow, I will announce additional funding for greenways, improving the permeability between towns and villages. This is a successful programme and we want to expand it, and that is embraced by communities too. In respect of EVs, I am not just goin…

I am aware of that. I am also aware the Deputy's party has opposed every action we have taken in respect of climate, whether through our climate budgets or the climate action plan. That is a policy position it has, but I think we all understand the need for us to reduce emissions to improve how people travel. The Deputy's question relates specifically to electric vehicles and making them more acce…

As I was saying, the regional and local EV network plan is very important. Departmental officials have been engaging actively with local authorities to develop their own regional charging plans. We are now looking at ranges averaging 400 km, which will cover most daily driving. Most EV charging happens at home. Nevertheless, I agree that we need to improve the EV charging infrastructure throughout…