Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We now have a blueprint to take real and meaningful action to ensure Ireland becomes an international brand leader in how we approach climate action. We have seen so many areas of focus within this climate action plan, but I wish to focus on some practical issues that will make a real difference in rural constituencies.

Our green image historically stems from our agricultural sector. I want to ensure that this continues well into the future as we move towards greater production of organic and sustainable foods. If we summarise the actions in agriculture, the plan works towards significantly reducing chemical nitrogen fertiliser use to 325,000 tonnes per annum and improvements to animal breeding and feeding, as well as increasing organic farming land almost five-fold to 350,000 ha. I have been consistently repeating that we have to acknowledge the proactive role that agriculture will play in climate action. The plan aims to produce 1.6 TW hours of indigenous, sustainably produced biomethane per annum, which is a huge step forward in reducing our fossil fuel imports. Other actions include reviewing diversification opportunities for farmers, including energy production, agroforestry and woodland creation. These are all steps where the farming community are part of the solution and their willingness to step up to the plate needs to be remembered.

An issue raised regularly with me by constituents is the difficulty in accessing retrofit grants. Our existing retrofitting options need to be proactively highlighted and processes streamlined to increase uptake and ensure quicker turnarounds. It is great that the plan intends to drive demand for a new national retrofit plan. Other initiatives include blending a low-cost loan and SEAI grants to make retrofitting affordable and viewed as a real investment in our future. This will lead to a surge in demand for qualified people. It is great that three further training centres for retrofit upskilling are now planned. This is a clear demonstration that climate action and job creation can go hand-in-hand.

Other initiatives include the introduction of a programme to decarbonise the heating and cooling sector by 2050, as well as a phasing out of the use of fossil fuels for space and water heating in all new buildings. We are already making progress with community generation. Further efforts will see the roll-out of up to 2.6 TW hours of district heating. As recently as September, up to €6.4 million in funding was allocated to 15 community and home energy projects in Mayo as part of the community energy grant scheme. This was very welcome.

The climate action plan is very likely to be the most important initiative on which many of us will speak. The actions that we take in the short term will heavily impact the long term of climate action consequences and that essentially means the world our children will be living in. I applaud the actions contained within this plan. I look forward to doing whatever I can to get them implemented.

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