Addressing climate change will insulate Ireland from international economic shocks, the Green Party has claimed.

Leader Eamon Ryan also said that the Citizens' Assembly can help to start a new national dialogue on climate change.

He accused the government of failing to show "real climate change ambition".

Mr Ryan said: "Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he wants to make Ireland 'an island at the centre of the world'. If we want to adopt such a role, then progressive leadership on climate change is the best way to go. A new low carbon economy is starting to take hold across the world. Why would Ireland, the country that missed out so badly at the start of the first industrial revolution, decide to opt out of what is happening this time around?

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"Ireland is not rich in the materials that drove the fossil fuel economy, but we have the right resources for a new green economy. We've renewable power and water supplies in abundance. We've a great growing climate and a smart and flexible workforce. Tackling climate change can help us build secure local industries as we manage these natural resources. We can allow use this time of change to tackle the inequalities that exist in Irish society. It can be a win win-win transition.

"We need a national dialogue so this switch is led by local communities as well as the State."

(CD/LM)