I am extremely concerned by what the Minister and this Government are doing in the area of climate action and now in the area of climate law. They are dismantling years of work and future generations will bear the cost. Section 7 of the Critical Infrastructure Bill provides for a disapplication of section 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 in specific cases. Simply put, this means now that large infrastructure projects carried out in transport, energy, water and wastewater will no longer have to comply with section 15 of the climate Act. This is an incredible thing to put into legislation. Section 15 places an obligation on public bodies to prioritise climate concerns while carrying out their functions, so the Critical Infrastructure Bill will exempt transport infrastructure, energy systems and water and wastewater projects from climate obligations. It will disapply climate law from some of the biggest potential sources of long-term emissions and the most emission-intensive projects that are carried out by the State. The climate Act was introduced because there is an acceptance that Government decisions have consistently failed to deliver emissions reductions without legal obligations. We all remember how difficult it was, the amount of work that went into it in the last Dáil and the amount of consultation involved in bringing together the climate Act. Now, with the stroke of a pen, the Minister is going to disapply it for large-scale projects. What the Minister is doing is saying these climate considerations are no longer an option and he will override them when they no longer fit the Government's agenda. What the Minister is doing with section 7 is gutting the core purpose of the climate Act. While every day public bodies will be expected to cut emissions and meet their climate objectives, as they should and as is intended in the climate Act and was the intention of the then Government and every Deputy who voted for that Act in the previous Dáil, huge infrastructure projects will now be given a free pass. This is not about paperwork or simplifying procedures. Transport infrastructure, energy systems and water and wastewater projects all shape our emissions for decades. They lock in carbon pathways long after Governments move on. How can the Minister propose setting aside climate laws for these projects? We cannot have a climate Act that is optional for big projects. That just will not work. Climate change will not stop because big projects must advance. What comes next? If this Bill becomes law, what is to stop the Government exempting housing projects, agriculture infrastructure or industrial policy from climate law in future? If the Minister creates a precedent for climate law to be disapplied for strategic reasons, the integrity of the whole Act is undermined. To make matters worse, the Bill is being progressed without pre-legislative scrutiny by the infrastructure committee. This is a slap in the face to Members of the Oireachtas and a serious undermining of parliamentary processes. The Government is constantly talking about future proofing and climate resilience. The Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, is constantly talking about how climate change is an existential crisis we are facing, yet day in, day out the Government is acting completely contrary to this. It is sidelining climate action and hollowing out our climate law. This will be felt for generations to come. Ireland will fall further behind in its climate obligations and the public will pay the economic and environmental price.

Sentiment score: -0.06