Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Cronin. I will take ten minutes and she will take five.

I welcome the opportunity afforded by these statements. I ask the Minister to reflect on the fact that this is a new project, coming on the back of the sectoral emissions ceilings and the first climate action plan. It is based on documents published a couple of days before Christmas. We have not yet got the annex of actions. I ask the Minister to consider whether there is a better way to bring this forward or a better timeline in which this would not be discussed so close to Christmas and in which we would have the annexe of actions at the earliest opportunity. We have not received a hard copy of the climate action plan yet. I accept that this is a relatively new process. If there is an opportunity to improve on it, as I believe there is, let us do so.

In saying that, I acknowledge that the climate action plan itself and the annexe of actions provide a strong framework for documenting the exact measures that will be taken by Government. Whether we agree with them is a different question but they do document the measures and allow those of us in the Opposition to hold the Government to account in respect of them. I acknowledge that.

The Minister has said we are going in the wrong direction globally. We are also going in the wrong direction in Ireland as regards emissions reductions. In fact, we are not realising emissions reductions; our emissions are increasing. As time goes by, we are eating further and further into the time period of our carbon budgets and into the emissions ceilings they provide. If we continue on our current trajectory, there is a real risk that we will max out or exhaust our first carbon budget well in advance of 2025. There is significant detail in the climate action plan and a ten-minute statement will not address all of it. I will break it down into a number of areas. There is broad political consensus as regards the ambition. That is set out in the science.

2 o’clock

There is a great level of detail in the action plan and a ten-minute statement is not going to address all of it. I will break it down into several areas. There is broad political consensus regarding the ambition and this is set out in the science. There are many areas where I and my party would be critical in saying we are moving too slowly. The path in some areas we can contest, while in other areas the path is quite clear but we are moving too slowly. I will touch on some of these areas in respect of renewables. In other areas, retrofitting, for example, I will contend that we are on the wrong path and our schemes are designed incorrectly. It is the same with electric vehicles, EVs. We accept the targets and want to meet them, but the path designed by the Government is not the correct one. It is acknowledged by everybody that there is a real need for additional quality information in several areas, including land use and agriculture. Regarding the financial end of this, work is being done in the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance. Let us make that happen as quickly as possible.

A point that I have made to the Minister before is that I see there is a move in respect of the governance structure and accountability and new mechanisms within the Department of the Taoiseach. The Minister needs to continue to push that. There is a need for accountability within the Department of the Taoiseach but also within the individual Departments. We have seen this at the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action where we have struggled to get responses and engagement from individual Departments. It is frustrating and my concern is that it shows a lack of priority in this regard within those Departments.

There needs to be an absolute focus, not by 2030 but by the end of the year. Sinn Féin published its vision for renewable energy and outlined a number of measures that need to be taken. There needs to be increased ambition regarding the proportion of community, State-owned and domestic renewables. We must empower our strong State agencies. It is great to have them. We must empower communities. We must see the guidelines updated that have been on the books for far too long. If we are to deliver on the ambition for onshore and offshore wind, we need to have community buy-in. We can achieve this if we take a particular approach. We need investment in ports, the grid and the planning system. I raise this point with the Minister regularly and I am sure he is aware of it but we need an identified workforce plan. I understand An Bord Pleanála has come forward with that. Is it up to scratch? Are those people in place? Will they be in place to deliver and assess the applications coming the Minister's way?

We need reform of the public service obligation, PSO. It is regressive between large energy users and residential energy users and also between residential energy users. The PSO needs to be reformed to ensure fairness. On retrofitting, we have published a policy and had a Dáil debate on this issue. The Minister is not taking on board the points made by me and others in the Opposition. We and the Climate Change Advisory Council, CCPC, have stated that shallow retrofit need to be introduced at pace. Up to 500,000 homes would benefit from shallow retrofits today. Far too many people cannot access schemes because they are not eligible for them or do not have the money to do so.

I appreciate that we need to scale up in respect of capacity. The Government needs to ensure the resources are applied in the most efficient and effective way possible. Sinn Féin has set out our proposals in A Fairer Retrofit Plan, which looks at taking an area-based approach. This area-based approach has been employed and I have heard that Fingal County Council has sought for it to be standard practice. In the better energy communities scheme, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, has employed it, almost on a pilot basis, in Cork. This is the approach we need to take. We must identify the coldest and poorest households and retrofit those along with neighbouring homes to allow us to get through as many houses as possible, rather than retrofitting Nos. 6, 11 and 14 in one street this month and then doing Nos. 5 and 8 six months later, with everybody in between left behind. There is a possibility and need to take a fairer and more efficient approach.

Lifting people out of energy poverty is also a key priority. While I welcome the movement on the energy poverty strategy, it needs to happen at pace. It is the same with solar power. There is a great opportunity in this area. As I understand it, however, some energy providers are still not getting paid for the energy they are giving back to the system. This needs to be addressed. Again, it is an example of where the Government and the Opposition are on the same page. Why is this not happening in a timely fashion to show people the benefits and opportunities of climate action?

Regarding transport, there are great opportunities in the Connecting Ireland plan. I ask the Minister to please prioritise and resource this plan. A sum of €5 million was allocated in its first year. Sinn Féin has committed to allocating €25 million to it in year two. Let us make that happen. I have seen it implemented through the introduction of the 188 bus service. This is a route I have argued for since before I was a Teachta Dála and while still a county councillor. It has been welcomed by the community. Let us make more of this happen. This development is in stark contrast to the Navan rail line, which we are again hearing will not be delivered until 2036. That is far too slow. Communities want this rail line and will appreciate it. It would be a very positive development in the context of climate action. Let us make it happen.

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