Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I never opposed the measure. I just pointed out that it would not be possible for the Minister to implement it and I was right. The Minister had to wait for action from Europe and 100-watt bulbs have only been phased out this year. It will take years to complete the measure. There was never a big figure amounting to hundreds of tonnes saved because of the banning of incandescent light bulbs. The headline from the first carbon budget never happened. Last year it was 2020 transport, which was very much a damp squib. The year 2020 is still a good few years away, although the Minister mentioned it again this year.

This year the headline is the carbon tax, the climate change Bill and the retrofit schemes. With the retrofit scheme, the big problem for the Government is that it usually makes a big announcement of so many millions of euro being provided with so many jobs arising from it. The newspapers write their headline from that but a year later, what will be delivered? There has been considerable underspend in the greener homes and home energy schemes this year.

I cannot presume what will happen by the end of the month but in answer to a question I tabled a week or two ago, I was told the underspend in the greener homes scheme was approximately €5 million. The underspend looks to be much greater for the home energy scheme, as €47 million was provided but only €13 million was spent at the time of my question. I could be wrong but I presume this relates to the recession. Although a grant is provided for a third of the cost of retrofitting a home to make it energy-efficient, people cannot afford to spend what is required because of the recession. The money provided for Government grants this year has apparently not been spent as a result. Will there be a similar problem with the retrofitting scheme announced by the Government this year?

Some of this goes to local authorities but they may not have the capacity to benefit because they are significantly understaffed. Authorities have lost 4,000 staff over the past year, mainly temporary staff, and in the budget this year the local government fund has been cut further. That means more staff will have to be shed by local authorities. How will such authorities carry out retrofitting or flood relief works if staff numbers are down?

The Minister mentioned flooding. Estimates for flood relief works last year provided €50 million and the 2008 budget provided €50 million. Some €25 million was spent in 2008 and this year €38 million will be spent. The pattern has persisted for about ten years where so much flood relief is provided in the budget but not all of it is spent. A considerable amount has not been spent in the past couple of years. The Government has stated it will provide €70 million this year but at the end of next year will we find that only half of that has been spent?

When the flood policy review group and Goodbody economic consultants considered the matter they found that flood relief money was not being spent because there is not enough staffing to ensure it is spent. The Government is cutting back on such staff.

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Eamon Ryan, should be picked up on the idea that we should not tax work or labour and that we should instead bring in carbon taxes. Such taxes are fine in principle but the fairest way to tax people is on their income. We do not want to go the route of the Progressive Democrat policy over the past 12 years and reduce income taxes further in the next few years. We must learn from the mistakes we have made. The Government made a mistake when it reduced income taxes and it brought about more inequality as a result, as identified by ICTU. Societies and countries which have more equality in income and fairer income tax systems have a better record on climate change.

If the Minister really wants to do something about climate change, he should bring about more income equality in Ireland. This budget is doing the reverse, and it is similar to what the Government has been doing for the past 12 years when the Progressive Democrats controlled matters. It seems the Green Party will allow this to happen and positively promote such action as the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has done lately.

The Green Party used to deal with environmental matters but over the past few years the issue has been climate change. People are now focused on jobs and the economy so the issue has become subdued. If we want to act on climate change we must protect the environment. The Minister, in the Budget Statement, has let his Government cut through the environment budget. That budget covers the Environment Protection Agency etc. and 25% less will be spent under the environment heading. Some 67% less is to be spent on waste management, which is very important in the reduction of emissions. We must ensure people do not send rubbish to landfill or incinerate it. The local government fund has been cut by 12%. The grants for heritage and planning are being reduced in a similar way.

There are headlines about climate change and announcements by Ministers in press conferences. If the Green Party is to do its job in government, it should look to protect our environment. That is where it is falling down, which is not helping with the climate change agenda.

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