The COP28 climate agreement finalised in Dubai was a historic agreement and has shown that nations "can still unite" and work collectively, Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan has said.
After 13 days of talks, a consensus was reached at the Dubai climate summit that would call for a transition away from fossil fuels.
He said that "had we not delivered this package together", it would have been "critically sad".
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Ryan acknowledged that the deal was not perfect but said it was historic because it was the first time in 30 years that the core of the problem had been addressed and connected to science.
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"Now we have to deliver and act," he said.
"The phasing out of fossil fuels and transitioning away mean the same thing in my mind," Mr Ryan added.
He also said that the Paris climate agreement is stronger now than ever.
"It was not easy to agree the deal," the Green Party leader said, "but it was in everyone's common interest to do so because climate change effects everyone".
Mr Ryan said the deal committed to building a new renewable energy efficient future as well as tackling climate justice and critically changing the entire financial architecture in the world.
It is a double ambition, he said.
"We have to make sure that the countries of the world that are most impacted, that have least ability to switch this renewable future, are able to do so now," he said.
The minister said the current financial system rewards fossil fuel industries as much as renewables and this much change.
He said that this COP was not going to change everything but it sent a clear message to financial markets that they must be part of the change.
Mr Ryan said no one got exactly what they wanted in the deal but getting the agreement gave the opportunities to take the next steps, which included supporting the small island states and least developed countries.
He said that the commitments now have to be delivered and the Government will work on that over the coming year.
He was proud of the work of the Irish team and delegation at COP28 for their work on climate finance in particular, he added.
Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney told the Dáil that he really welcomes the deal struck at COP28.
He said that Minister Ryan "was central to the EU negotiations, particularly in the context of climate finance".
"I'm not sure it's got enough recognition, the role that Minister Ryan played in getting a final agreement from the EU side," he added.
Mixed response from Climate Change Advisory Council
The Chair of the Irish Climate Change Advisory Council, Marie Donnelly, has said it was positive that an agreement was reached.
She said fossil fuel industries had made a real effort to derail the process and deny the science and that it was a success to defeat that lobby.
The transition away from fossil fuels must be carefully managed, particularly among those countries that rely on fossil fuels for income, she said.
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Speaking on the same programme, Ms Donnelly said climate change is around us all the time and sea levels are continuing to rise.
She said Ireland is ambitious in its climate ambitions.
"I'm hopeful that we have turned the corner in achieving our goals," she said. "But we are not on the downward slope fast enough."
However another member of the Climate Change Advisory Council, Dr Cara Augustenborg said the deal was "absolutely the bare minimum that we need to see".
"I think the only value that the text has, is that that peer pressure from other countries, and the accountability that will drive countries to continue to reduce emissions and move toward renewables," she said.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Philip Boucher Hayes, Dr Augustenborg said she welcomed the financial support for developing countries but warned the text leaves it open for nations to ignore parts that they do not want to follow.
'A historic failure' - PBP
The deal was was not strong enough to deliver an end to fossil fuels without global people power to drive government action around the world, Friends of the Earth Ireland said in a statement.
The environmental campaigning organisation referred to the "litany of loopholes" identified by the small island states most vulnerable to climate change, which it said could allow fossil fuel interests continue business as usual unless citizens and campaigners demand the systems change we need.
Friends of the Earth Head of Policy Jerry Mac Evilly said: "The fossil fuel 'elephant in the room' has finally been put front and centre thanks to the tireless efforts of civil society around the world.
"Yet the 'elephant' remains on the rampage. COP28 broke the climate silence on fossil fuels but it has not yet broken the grip of fossil fuel interests on our energy system and on much of our political system."
People Before Profit TD and Spokesperson on Climate Paul Murphy said COP28 and the agreed text was a historic failure and a dangerous fudge on the issue of ending the use of fossil fuels.
He said that the agreements now clearly showed the need for a global grassroots movement to end fossil fuels.
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime programme, Mr Murphy said the Government should be honest with people that the deal was covered in the influence of fossil fuel companies, the US and the petrostates.
Mr Murphy said Minister Ryan was "greenwashing the agreement".
"Science does not do diplomacy," he said.
"We have a duty to be honest with people, and the truth is we are heading for climate catastrophe. The truth is despite now being on COP28, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise year on year, and fossil fuel investment continues to rise.
"And yet COP 28 could not agree on very basic language of saying the simple scientific fact that we need to have a phase out of fossil fuels."
