People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith has criticised the Government for trying to block a bill seeking to stop oil and gas exploration in Ireland.
She was speaking after it was decided that her bill requires a "money message" or ministerial approval before it can progress any further in the Dáil.
She accused the Government of attempting to "stall and scupper this bill" and said it "exposes in the clearest possible terms their utter hypocrisy on climate action".
The Dáil select committee was due to debate the bill on 11 June. Ms Smith said that the Government and the fossil fuel industry are terrified of the bill becoming law and it has been subjected to intense lobbying.
"The Government are now claiming that the bill has a cost implication and as such requires what is known as a ‘money message’. If the minister does not issue such a message the Bill cannot proceed."
The TD pointed out that this argument was never raised before even though the Bill has undergone two committee hearings and had two Dáil votes in support of it.
She claimed the bill is being "usurped yet again in a cynical procedural trick. It is particularly outrageous following last week's huge vote for climate action at local and European level".
"The Government has shown itself to be merely concerned with climate PR and greenwashing rather than taking radical and affirmative action on the ever more urgent climate crisis and the desperate need for CO2 reduction.
"The central demand of the Students Strike 4 Climate, Extinction Rebellion, Not Here Not Anywhere climate scientists and the wider climate movement is to keep fossil fuels in the ground."
Yesterday the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment said the Government is taking the challenge of climate action very seriously.
Richard Bruton said he hoped to present Cabinet with a very ambitious climate action plan in the coming weeks.
Mr Bruton acknowledged there is an excessive dependence on the use of fossil fuels in Ireland and there is a need to change this, adding that the plan will be ambitious and seek a massive shift away from fossil fuel.
He said a carbon tax will probably be introduced in the next budget, but that the proceeds of this should be re-distributed to people to help them de-carbonise.
