October 13, 2010 View all news John Gormley T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Ciarán Cuffe, T.D., Minister of State, with responsibility for Climate Change, Planning and Heritage, today welcomed the launch by the Oireachtas Joint Committee (JOC) on Climate Change and Energy Security of their second report on the need for climate change law in Ireland.Minister Cuffe welcomed the genuine interest of all parties to work constructively towards enacting a strong climate law for Ireland as soon as possible. The Minister praised the continued excellent work of the JOC which was established by the Government to promote a bipartisan response to the interlinked issues of climate change and energy security and which are of unparalleled national and international importance. The Minister stated:'The Bill includes some good elements which we will take into consideration in the finalisation of our own Climate Change Bill. The need for Climate Change legislation is a central part of the Programme for Government and my Department has been working very hard over the past few months in conjunction with other Government departments to ensure we achieve strong legislation while safeguarding our economic competitiveness. The Government Climate Change Bill is very well advanced and we hope to be in a position to have Government approval to publish the Heads of the Bill in the very near future'The purpose of the forthcoming Climate Change Bill is to transition Ireland to a low-carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable society and economy in the most cost-effective and equitable manner and to achieve our binding EU and international commitments.Recently a group of major business interests in Ireland called for the immediate introduction of strong overarching Climate Change legislation to give certainty to the business community, safeguard employment and stimulate investment in the Green economy which is creating significant employment opportunities and, with appropriate legislative and policy support, will continue to create further significant employment opportunities into the future.Minister Cuffe added:'In spite of the difficult economic agenda which we are currently facing, Climate Change remains the greatest challenge of our time and a strong priority for this Government, and will be for future Governments. Given the degree of cross-party consensus on the need to address global warming we would be very hopeful to achieve all party support for this very important legislation when it comes before the Dail.' Email the Ministers who will meet to decide the fate of the Climate Bill. Learn more about what's at stake. This campaigning work depends on our donations. Every euro helps Categorised in: Climate Change