Bríd Smith urges IPCC debate as Tánaiste warns of irreversible change

Tanaiste, I want to ask you about what the UN General Secretary, Antonio Guterres, had to say about the IPCC report when he called it an atlas of human suffering and a damning indictment of failed climate leadership. He warned that current events make it all too clear that our continued reliance on fossil fuels make the global economy and energy security vulnerable to geopolitical shocks and crises. Now, I think the biggest warning that he made was any further delay and he, in his report, asked us to recognise that we've got a small window of opportunity to act decisively and quickly to avoid rapid closing of the windows of opportunity to secure a livable and sustainable future. So what I want to ask you is how serious the Government are taking that warning and if we can have an urgent debate in the House on the latest IPCC report. Yeah, thanks. Thanks very much, Deputy. I think the report was very stark and I'd welcome a debate in the House on it if that can be arranged through the Business Committee. It probably didn't get the kind of attention that it deserved because of the other events that are happening in the world at the moment, but it was very stark. It says two things to us, I think, as a country. It reminds us that we need to press ahead and implement our climate action plan, but also reminds us that even if we do fully implement our own climate action plan, we share an environment with a world of 10 billion people and many countries aren't going to do what we're going to do and we need to plan for adaption as well. Because, as the report indicates, a certain amount of climate change is now irreversible and further climate change is now inevitable. So we need to step up our plans in terms of implementing our own climate action plan but also prepare for adaption as well because so much is beyond our control as a small country. Thank you. Thank you.