I wish to start by joining in the tributes to Julie Lyons. We wish her and her family well on her well-deserved retirement after 34 years and seeing off nine taoisigh. We will miss her. My colleagues have reminded me just how kind and generous she has always been, particularly to the children who visit this House regularly. That has been really appreciated, and also the way she brought fun to our food - Christmas dinners in September and the legendary Markievicz trifles. I thank her very much for everything. She will be missed.

Sentiment score: 0.35

I wish to express my condemnation of the attacks last night on the global flotilla for Gaza. Our former constituency colleague Senator Chris Andrews is among the Irish citizens on the flotilla. I urge the Minister to work with EU colleagues to ensure the safety of all those on that flotilla. It is appalling to see attacks in this way, and it is yet another example of Israel feeling it can apparently act with impunity against international law. This week, a stark warning on climate was issued to the Government. Research by Met Éireann and Maynooth University shows that Ireland experienced extraordinarily high temperatures during the summer of 2025 with average night-time temperatures beating all previous records. This is a terrifying finding. We are seeing catastrophic effects of climate change around the world – forest fires, mudslides and floods. Despite this, certain political leaders internationally are tragically turning away from the science and are embracing climate denial and conspiracy theories. We scoff at Trump’s appalling rhetoric on climate, but here at home since the Green Party left government, we have also seen a shift. The Government is not taking climate change seriously enough. This is having real impact on people's lives. Hard-pressed households are facing impossible choices this winter while struggling to cover home heating bills due to huge hikes in fossil fuel costs. A total of 300,000 households are in arrears on their electricity bills. There is no sign of a winter moratorium on disconnections. There are still people impacted by the worst effects of climate change, such as Storm Éowyn and other storms. People are continuing to struggle with the cost of repairs. There are no big ideas on climate forthcoming from the Government. We saw the climate targets retained in the programme for Government. That was welcome. However, there was no pathway to achieve them. At the outset of the formation of this Government, there was the slashing of funds for sustainable travel, public transport, and cycling and active travel in favour of building more and more roads. The Government's policy continues to turn a blind eye to the impact of data centres on emissions, household bills and energy security. Retrofitting too often remains the preserve of the wealthy. What we are asking for today is that the Government will give a commitment that this budget will take climate seriously and we will see serious measures adopted to invest in meeting our climate targets, making our communities more secure. We want to see the warmer homes scheme fixed so retrofitting can work for everyone. We want to see real State investment in developing renewables and rolling out offshore wind. Will the Government take climate seriously in this budget? Will the Minister give us a commitment today that it will do so?

Sentiment score: -0.08

I acknowledge Deputy Heneghan, who is on the flotilla along with other Irish citizens. We wish them all well and hope for their safety. This Government's response to me on climate is another classic exercise in deflection. We heard it earlier during the Government's response to the motion on child poverty and child homelessness. It was deflection and side stepping. Of course this Government is not as bad as Trump on climate but there has been a noticeable shift away from taking climate seriously. I mentioned the road building issue. Let us look at LNG as well. This summer, the Minister for climate wrote to the planning regulator giving a green light to LNG, a light that is green in the metaphorical sense only because it is a policy U-turn at a time when this country faces up to €26 billion in fines for failing to achieve our legally binding climate targets. With respect, we know Minister O'Brien has form for missing targets. He was the housing Minister in the previous Government and the approach to climate targets in this Government reminds me of Fianna Fáil's reliance on inflated home delivery targets during the last general election campaign.

Sentiment score: 0.06

I think it is a fair critique to make. The Government is not taking climate seriously-----

Sentiment score: 0.16

-----and we need commitments in this budget that will reassure us and ensure we meet our targets.

Sentiment score: 0.67