Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are only two of us due to speak now so Deputy Fitzmaurice will take whatever time remains after I have spoken.

Climate change is destroying our planet in a very real and devastating way. While we all contribute to it, not all of us will feel the effects in the same way. In fact, it has been shown that those who contribute most will be affected least. How can we say we live in a fair and equal society when this is the case? How can we allow some of our citizens to suffer more than others? In the case of Ireland, it will be low-income families and rural communities that will suffer the most.

The Climate Action Plan 2023 is full of contradictions. It aims to work towards solutions that are "meaningful, inclusive, fair and accessible". Having reading the plan, however, there is a real lack of a rural approach and the very few mentions of rural communities are simply not grounded in reality. For example, the plan references the national broadband plan, which it states, "will ensure that households and businesses in rural parts of Ireland will have a similar level of connectivity as households and businesses in urban areas" and that "for each new remote worker, an estimated average net saving of up to 10 kWh per day will be achieved, reducing commuter transport energy use and carbon emissions". This sounds great, but it is completely detached from the fact that a lot of areas in my constituency of Donegal do not have access to fibre broadband and will not have access until at least 2026. I am not sure how this is "fair and accessible". My constituents have been calling for broadband access for years and every year this is not addressed is another year of rural depopulation and local business closures for my constituency. I live within the Eir feed plan, so my area is not part of the national broadband plan, but I do not have the high-speed broadband that has been touted so much. That is due to Eir and the way it screws everybody in this State for what it gets.

The plan makes one brief point on ACRES and the only other mention of rural communities is the rural mobility programme. I am pleased that the plan recognises that "Dispersed and low-density development has led to high levels of transport poverty in certain regions and for certain cohorts of society." I am also pleased with the statement that "This is a particular challenge to rural communities". The challenge should be to improve the transport routes to ensure that people can be connected. That is not happening fast enough. I recognise that there is a plan in place to update transport routes, but we should really be focusing on free and accessible transport.

I am also pleased that we will see the establishment of a just transition commission this year. I can only hope that it makes a better attempt to address rural concerns than this plan does and that it will not just be a case of forming a commission and saying the job is done and away we go as happy as Larry.

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