David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that there will be a climate strike tomorrow across this land and in many parts of the world over the next number of days. This week, thankfully, a spotlight will be again shone on the issue of climate action and change. The protest is being led by schoolchildren. Millions of people around the world will, in my view, come out to support the logic of uniting behind the science. All of those who come out will call on leaders in this State and people in this Chamber to deliver an urgent and dramatic increase in action. People want to see real changes. Many of the changes that are necessary are very exciting and are, I think, the very essence of policies that parties such as Sinn Féin and left progressive parties have been advocating for a longer number of years, namely, investment in public services and transport and making sure that the State is in the driving seat in regard to dealing with these issues. The private sector will not be in the driving seat when it comes to making sure that people's homes are to the highest standards, that the homes that people need are built, that we make a fair and just transition to a zero carbon economy and that we have more aggressive afforestation to act as a carbon sink.

The Minister mentioned a just transition. I do not believe that Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil will deliver a just transition - quite the opposite. In terms of what is necessary for a just transition, it will be about State investment in public services. It is important that we listen to the voices of young people who are our future voting citizens. In my view, they have every reason to inform Government about the direction of policymaking. We need to see this in the context of social justice and fairness underpinning the environmental changes needed. As with all structural change the pathway, is as important as the destination. Climate change cannot be tackled with the same methods and the same thinking that created the problem in the first instance. We know that bad policy positions and bad policy direction have pushed public spending towards costly and unsuccessful measures, which have a negative impact on society and the economy. Numerous failures worldwide have emerged where political and economic decision-making was lacking foresight, including, for example, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment's climate action plan, which uses a marginal abatement cost curve to help identify the most cost-effective pathway to reducing emissions. That is a disaster waiting to happen because climate change cannot be tackled through accountancy. Mathematical equations will not save us.

Fine Gael and, I would argue, Fianna Fáil, believe that this will be sorted by market forces, the same market forces that have resulted in creeping privatisation of public services, left many people in substandard housing that does not have the same type of high energy ratings as the homes that wealthier people can afford and caused the cessation of bus services in rural areas. The Expressway services in many parts of the State ceased because they were not economically viable. If the Government proposes to underpin its response on market forces and market logic rather than social, economic and environmental need, it will not solve the problems and it will not bring about the structural changes which are necessary. These changes also will not come about through leaflets and advertisement campaigns, of the type which followed the Minister's launch of the plan. In terms of the Government's record since then, it published its climate action plan at the same time as it was carving up the Irish Sea into speculative boxes for fossil fuel extraction and agreeing a beef deal with Brazil which will hasten the demise of the Amazon rainforest.

The Minister's flagship policy of electric cars for everybody has already fallen flat on its face. According to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, it is pie in the sky thinking and cannot be done. The retrofit scheme which the Government put in place also fell apart. Let us be honest; it was a retrofit scheme that was aimed at people who had money to invest in deep retrofitting. It was not as a starting point a retrofit scheme for older people who are most in need or a scheme targeted at public housing, which is where we should start.

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What we need to do is make sure that the planning laws and building regulations ensure that every house built in the future has the highest energy rating. All of the Minister's strategies I have seen so far have been severely wanting and will not tackle the core issue, which is structural and behavioural in nature and desperately requires social justice.

One issue that divided members of the committee was carbon tax. I am not against carbon taxes in principle. We already have them and we all pay them but the questions are whether we should increase carbon taxes, what impact they will have and who will be most affected by them. The Minister mentioned the just transition. It would be an injustice to people in vulnerable circumstances if carbon tax were increased on heating oil. It would also be an injustice if extra costs were imposed on transport and people could not afford to buy electric cars or could not use alternatives which, in most cases, are not available. I do not see how that approach would be fair. I have heard supporters of increases in carbon taxes say that we can ring-fence income from the tax for more climate change mitigation measures and give money back but I am not convinced that this will happen.

The Minister's starting point must be to provide alternatives in the first instance. He must then measure those against the track record of the two parties that have led this State since its foundation. What is their track record on investing in public transport? I have spoken to people who are concerned about some of the Minister's measures. They have told me that they live in rural areas and do not have public transport. Many people outside Dublin, even those who live in cities, do not have the type of public transport that is necessary. As a result, they cannot make the transition we want them to make. Many people do not have the money to carry out the type of deep retrofitting that is necessary or make other necessary changes. People are worried and they will be concerned about increases in taxes that they believe will not be fair.

We are not on our own and we must work in unison with our European partners. We must think internationally when it comes to climate change as well. We must be strong leaders in meeting our emissions targets and other climate change targets. We have not been strong leaders and are falling way behind. We have not met any of the targets we have set. We can point the finger of blame, as we should, at the US Administration, which has turned its face against climate action. The President of that country is a climate change denier. We can be angry and upset about that and point the finger but if we are not meeting our targets and are not leaders ourselves, we do not have the moral and political authority to lecture anybody else. Nobody on the left or outside the two main parties negotiated the many trade deals, including the most recent one which is in serious conflict with the objectives of achieving environmental protection and climate justice. The Minister cannot give a speech like the one he gave and say we need to do more, take the lead and make sure we meet our targets and then potentially sign this country up to the Mercosur trade deal, which we know is having a significant impact on the Amazon. Before the Dáil returned, Members saw the Amazon rainforest burning over the summer months. This has occurred for many different reasons but, again, it is because industrialisation and profit come first in Brazil and the country's right-wing government is not putting the protection of the environment first. The driver behind these fires is the effort to create more land for agriculture. The EU and Ireland are encouraging and enabling that by signing up to a deal that is built around that objective. Let us not have a level of denial about what we are all doing here and what is necessary.

I am very positive and energised about what about what we need to do because I believe in investment in public transport and that people should have the best homes. I believe the State has a responsibility to make sure it does what it needs to do, including more afforestation, ensuring building regulations are strong and increasing investment in renewable energies. That is what we need to do. We do not need more taxes, an unjust transition and gimmicks such as some of those we have seen in the Minister's plan. We need real, tangible and practical solutions that will work and deliver the necessary change.

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