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Minister hits out at rural TDs for heckling during Climate Action Bill speech

TDs from the Rural Independent Group have criticised the bill, accusing the government of ignoring the people of rural Ireland.

TheJournal.ie / YouTube

MINISTER FOR CHILDREN Roderic O’Gorman has criticised members of the Rural Independent Group of TDs for their repeated interruptions of Minister Eamon Ryan’s speech on the Climate Action Bill in the Dáil earlier today.

The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications today opened the Dáil debate on the bill, which commits to Ireland becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

Ryan was interrupted a number of times by TDs from the Rural Independent Group, who complained that they had not been given a copy of the minister’s speech, which they were hearing live at the time.

Danny Healy-Rae accused the minister of “trying to hide from the people of Ireland what you’re doing” and claimed he was attempting to “finish off” the people of rural Ireland. Michael Healy Rae also accused the minister of attempting to conceal something by not providing a written copy of his speech ahead of delivering it live in the Dáil.

“What are they trying to cover up and hide in this bill?” he asked.

The minister was eventually allowed to continue, but the heckling was later condemned by party colleague Minister O’Gorman.

“Deputies come in here and say they’re fighting for rural Ireland and say that they are the sole voice of rural Ireland but when the hard work was being done on bringing this legislation forward in the joint Oireachtas committee, I have to ask again: Where were those deputies?” he said.

Because it’s very easy to be in here today when the cameras are on and when you know you’re going to get a snippet on [RTÉ] Six One or you know you’re going to get a nice little video for Twitter and Facebook, but when the difficult work is being done, the boring, long hours going through section by section, that’s when the real changes happen and that’s when deputies who are so irate today could have made an input, but they didn’t.

Speaking to The Journal this evening about the interjections, Minister Ryan said he was “used to it”. He said despite suggestions from some TDs in the Dáil today, this legislation will be good for rural Ireland.

“It wouldn’t work if it wasn’t,” he said.

In his speech earlier Ryan said there is hope now in relation to the pandemic, that brighter days are ahead, but the issue of our health and our treatment of our climate are “inexplicably linked”.

“Listen to what Mike Ryan of the World Health Organization says. From his extensive experience, these pandemics are coming because we have not, in our time, protected the natural world,” he said.

“And the destruction of the biome, as he puts it, is the reason we’re seeing these pandemics  coming at us in a way that is destroying our lives.”

He said there are benefits for people’s health in the legislation’s provisions, such as more active transport systems, cleaner air from not burning fossil fuels and “building on a connection to nature”. 

“It’s clearly time for us to act because the natural world is in crisis, it’s being destroyed before our eyes. We are witnessing it within my lifetime and we have to stop that.”

The minister acknowledged that climate policy needs to move away from placing “blame and shame and pressure” on the consumer to do the right thing, and instead change the system so it is easier for people to do it. 

The bill commits Ireland to carbon neutrality by 2050 by cutting its emissions by 51% between 2018 and 2030 and to net zero no later than 2050. It’s hoped this reduction will be achieved through targeting the transport sector and industry, as well as an increased reliance on renewable energy.

All forms of greenhouse gas emissions will be included in future carbon budgets and governments will be required to adopt sectoral ‘emission ceilings’ within the limits of each budget.

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    Mute Rob LLoyd
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 2:45 PM

    With all the uncertainty and clarity about travel, its up to us as people to ensure we have all the relevant paperwork and documents BEFORE traveling, when this story broke last weekend, some people were already in Malta before the restrictions on free travel were lifted. Stay Safe Ireland ☀️

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    Mute VinnoH
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:19 PM

    @Rob LLoyd: Are you joking, a junior minister says it is safe to travel without a covid pass and they are stranded instead of on holiday!

    51
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    Mute HectorPickaxe
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:30 PM

    @VinnoH: The latest travel advice for most countries is readily available online. It is completely the responsibility of those travelling to check it. Ignorance or misinformation is not an excuse

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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:42 PM

    @VinnoH: They could have looked it up on 3 seconds. I bet they researched where you could buy designer handbags.

    87
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    Mute The Divils Avocado
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:44 PM

    @Vonvonic: sounds like someone hasn’t been out of the country in a while….

    15
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    Mute Neil Neart
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:54 PM

    @VinnoH: trust a politician???? LOL.

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    Mute lelookcoco
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:02 PM

    @Neil Neart: Seriously people thought a hand written card was an acceptable official document. And my passport is written on papyrus with a quill…..

    74
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    Mute Vonvonic
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:04 PM

    @The Divils Avocado: I’ve had the same handbag since my holy communion. Nothing at all wrong with it.

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    Mute Luan Willis
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:40 PM

    @The Divils Avocado: Who has been out of the country lately?

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    Mute Rob LLoyd
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 10:41 PM

    @VinnoH: ‘A Junior Minister Said’, after the last 16 months we have all had, with last minute changes, back tracking and U-turns, and leaky information from some ministers, I would take that advise with a pinch of salt, we need to take responsibility of our own actions, I have been bombarded with Emails from Aer Lingus since Christmas telling me to book and fly abroad, only I can’t, my decision is based on all the relevant information available.

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    Mute John Hagin Meade
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    Jul 23rd 2021, 8:54 AM

    @Luan Willis: The last time I was out of the country was in 2008, for me that’s recent. In my lifetime (I’m 70) I have been out of the country about 6 times.

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    Mute Linda Oreilly
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 2:50 PM

    Everyone knows that Malta is enforcing some of the strictest rules yet these people said ‘rules don;t apply to us’….hope they had to pay for their entire quarantine period.

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    Mute Eoin Jackson
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 2:55 PM

    @Linda Oreilly: why would you hope they have to pay for their entire quarantine period? You sound incredibly bitter. One of our elected representatives tweeted before they traveled that if the DCC did not arrive by then the vaccine card filled out would have been accepted. Given this person’s position their advise was taken. They now have their DCC and will presumably be released for quarantine. Why do you want them to pay the full amount? As a punishment for traveling fully vaccinated id it? You sound like a lovely person…

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    Mute Bill Spill
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 6:17 PM

    @Eoin Jackson: I think you both sound lovely

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    Mute Eoin Jackson
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 6:50 PM

    @Bill Spill: thanks Bill!

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    Mute Linda Oreilly
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 7:09 PM

    @Eoin Jackson: We have travelled to Malta lots of times and we always check out the restrictions from their gov. pages. We would never go by what an irish rep would tell us….always better to check the country you are travelling to….

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    Mute Victor Feldman
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 7:25 PM

    @Linda Oreilly: you really have to be naive to trust irish civil servant advice.. They said that they weren’t able to predict the enormous amount of calls on their coved cert line, that they are overwhelmed with!!
    Where I ask you, are their so called experts, with their university qualifications
    … What does this have to say about their levels of competence?

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    Mute Eoin Jackson
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 7:44 PM

    @Linda Oreilly: oh no Linda, I 100% agree with you on that front, absolutely spot on! They were foolish, i can certainly agree with that. But at the end of the day, they did not cause much harm only to their own time and pocket. Like id be annoyed if they had forged vaccine passes or something, absolutely! They travelled fully vaccinated without the required paperwork, they were put in MHQ until paperwork was sorted and I would imagine then released. A good lesson for them but I don’t understand the abuse they are getting. Or why they should pay for 2 weeks MHQ if they were only there 2-3 days. Charge them the 2-3 days worth. Like everyone is young at some point and i would like to consider myself still young, learning and going to make mistakes. I wouldn’t like to be vilified for it and I don’t really think these people should be either. Is basically my point.

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    Mute Alan McArdle
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:40 PM

    @Victor Feldman: nothing. It says more about the fools ringing the number that shouldn’t be. They are the ones clogging the system.

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    Mute Alan McArdle
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:41 PM

    @Victor Feldman: nothing. It says more about the eejits ringing the number that shouldn’t be. They are the ones clogging the system.

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    Mute Michael Burke
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:22 PM

    @Bill Spill: ah Bill, that’s lovely. A really lovely thing to say.

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    Mute This time its personable!
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 2:27 PM

    The Maltese One! I hope they’re not ‘Cross’!

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    Mute Paul Mcnevin
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 3:34 PM

    @This time its personable!: If they are they can have a few Malt-easers.

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    Mute Tessa Madden
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:28 PM

    @Paul Mcnevin: hehehehe

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    Mute Angelika Passet
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 4:00 PM

    If you travel to Hungary without the digital cert.

    All those entering Hungary (unless transiting) must agree to enter mandatory, legally enforceable 10-day quarantine. If the person has no place of residency in Hungary, they must enter a government designated place of quarantine.

    The quarantined individual may request from the authorities’ permission to have two PCR tests conducted within 5 days of arrival, which must be taken 48 hours apart. If the two PCR tests are negative, the authorities can exempt the individual from their quarantine obligation. The cost of the PCR tests must be met by the individual.

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    Mute Contrary Mary
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 2:55 PM

    So nice to hear our government has their priorities straight. Ffs. Couldn’t get my nephew into a school for 2.5 years, but at least the ignorami helped some fools who travelled knowing those cards would not be accepted or didn’t bother to check.

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    Mute Anthony Clark
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 3:21 PM

    @Contrary Mary: Country is run by the whims of the media – whoevers story is more click bait worthy- gets into the headlines and gets their issues sorted pronto.

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    Mute Andrew English
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 4:41 PM

    @Contrary Mary: they were told by the minister their card would be accepted. Get your facts right.

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    Mute Contrary Mary
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 5:50 PM

    @Andrew English: Why would a minister HERE be the foo l you believed? Do you go to a minister HERE to get a visa to the US? No. You check through your destination’s government.

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    Mute Gerard
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:40 PM

    While Malta may be the outlier if it truly is the only part of the EU not accepting vaccination cards, refusing anything but the DCC still seems entirely reasonable.

    That was the whole point of it: so there was one standardised format everyone could recognise that was difficult to forge.

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    Mute Simon Fitzpatrick
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:47 PM

    Well … I spoke to the “help” line last week after a 30 minute hold only to be promised a cert by Monday by post – my wife’s cert came but not mine.

    Called Tuesday and was on hold for 5hr30 min before being cut off bang on 6:30pm when the call centre closed

    Called Wednesday and waited 4hr30 before speaking to a man who promised my cert “this evening or tomorrow” via email – but nothing so far

    Took an antigen test today as a back up in case the French border guards question to validity of the HSE bit of card with handwriting.

    Travelling tomorrow … any little faith in the HSE or anything they do now completely vanished … unfortunately

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    Mute kevin mc cormack
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 7:55 PM

    Good for them, hopefully they can now enjoy their holidays

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    Mute Joe Johnson
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 2:32 PM

    That is a disgrace

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    Mute D. Memery
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 2:43 PM

    @Joe Johnson: why, they flew over knowing their documentation wasn’t acceptable to the Maltese authorities?

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    Mute Sal Paradise
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:57 PM

    @D. Memery: It’s the journal. You have to be outraged. It’s a disgrace….grrrr….

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:08 PM

    @Joe Johnson: no its not

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    Mute VinnoH
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 8:11 PM

    I arrived in Athens today, no request for vaccine cert, no request for a person locator form (PLF) and yet barely allowed on the aerlingus flight because we had trouble producing our PLF. This is a virus you cannot control a virus, end this ridiculous carry on. By the way I do not appreciate the journals editorial control of commentary.

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    Mute Hugh Mc Donnell
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:14 PM

    I’m still confused as to what they want, is a digital cert different than the paper cert that was emailed to me during the week even though they contain the same information. Can I go online and download it

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    Mute Colm OS
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 9:26 PM

    @Hugh Mc Donnell: no its the same thing, you can make it digital by scanning it into the covid tracker app.
    The qr code on the paper cert contains basic information about you and your vaccine status which when scanned, allows the authority to confirm everything is legit by cross checking the name on the cert with your passport. The mirror has done a good explainer with step by step instructions https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/how-your-digital-covid-cert-24558938?utm_source=sharebar&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sharebar

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    Mute Appaddy
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    Jul 22nd 2021, 11:51 PM

    Could we call them the Malteezers?

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