Update. The Climate bill has been listed for the Dail at 6.45pm today, Wednesday. All TDs need to know our concerns and act accordingly. Any and all amendments must be transparent, accessible and scrutinised. If amendments to the government seanad amendments are inadequate then I believe the originals need to be retracted and referred to Autumn so that the Climate Bill can pass without them.
Refer the concerning amendments to Autumn. Here is An Taisce position on them https://www.antaisce.org/news/an-taisce-calls-on-the-dail-to-pass-the-climate-bill-this-evening-without-last-fridays-amendments
Clare PPN/Clare Environmental Network/One Future Clare Proposed emergency actions in response to last minute government amendments to the Climate Bill
Last night, July 12th members of Clare PPN’s Environmental College, Clare Environmental Network and One Future Clare called a meeting to discuss their concerns about the last minute amending of the Climate Bill by the Government. The Climate Bill is scheduled to go through its final stage in the Dail tomorrow Wednesday 14th July. They asked us to compile the information below and to circulate it to all Clare PPN’s environmental contacts asking for those of you who share their concerns to take some simple actions today to draw attention to the situation. They do not want this extremely important bill passed without proper discussion of the effects of the last minute government amendments which have not been before the public for consultation or discussion.
The information below includes a brief explanation of our member’s concerns, the contact details, twitter handles and emails of all Clare TDs and the actual amendments to the bill are attached. If you are in agreement with this action our members want you to make contact by phone, tweet, or email today with your TDs to raise awareness of these concerns. This Climate Bill needs to be watertight as on the issue of Climate we have no time to spare or waste.
What we want you to do:
- Call your TD and ask them to request more time for debate and discussion on the effects of the last minute amendments- this could probably mean deferring it until September as the Dail breaks for summer in the next few days.
- Email your TD asking the same.
- Tweet as many TDs from any constituency but particularly the ones from Clare using the hashtags below.
SOME TALKING POINTS FOR YOUR TD
I am contacting you out of deep concern about amendments to the Climate Bill introduced through the Seanad on Friday 9th July and due to be voted on in the Dail on Wednesday 14th July.. While the amendments are concerning in an of themselves, the rushed nature and lack of debate compromises the democratic process.
The amendments 23 & 26 include the following:
- The Government of the day can decide what counts as greenhouse gas emissions
- The Government of the day can choose the baseline year against which to measure emissions targets
- That the Climate Change Advisory Committee must make its recommendations in line with the above political decisions instead of just in line with the scientific evidence
We are concerned that this leaves room for ‘creative accounting’ as the Government can make its own carbon budgeting rules and that it could undermine the independence of the Climate Change Advisory Council. It is our concern that these amendments leave this extremely important bill open to lobbying and pressure on politicians by sectoral interests and that it may serve to create loopholes that will undermine the commitment to effective climate transition measures.
*I am requesting that you use your powers to pass this Bill without the recent Seanad government amendments.
I am also looking for clarification on what ‘regard for’ the EU means in the context of this Bill
LINKS TO SHARE ONLINE (and hashtags)
https://greennews.ie/recent-amendments-gutted-climate-bill/
Amendments 23 & 26 are attached to this email
#ClimateBill
#IPCC
Original draft bill
https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/bill/2021/39/eng/ver_a/b39a21d.pdf
The Seanad debate July 9th 2021 where amendments were decided upon https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/seanad/2021-07-09/8/
Notes:
Clare PPN environmental members have engaged with every public consultation opportunity on this vitally important Climate Bill. They have held focus groups, done surveys, made individual and group submissions, made submissions to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action and organised a mass lobbying event with Clare Political Representatives in an effort to ensure that a watertight Climate Bill that sets Ireland on a course of transformation for a sustainable, liveable future is passed. They are extremely concerned that after all this effort last minute amendments which have not been scrutinised and which appear to have the potential to undermine the bill have been made. They are calling for the Climate Bill to be deferred until such a time as proper consideration of the Government Amendments has been carried out.
TheresaOD.com 