James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and thank them for their informative presentations. Dealing with climate change is probably one of the greatest challenges we face today. When the witnesses went through the heads of the Bill earlier they spoke about setting targets. Targets can disappoint, as the witness correctly said a few moments ago. A roadmap would probably be the better way to proceed. Who will appoint the national expert advisory body on climate change? Will it have representatives from the agricultural community, the construction industry and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport? In the case of our road structure, for example, huge opportunities were missed when we were constructing the motorways throughout the country. I and others of a similar mind thought we should have constructed a light rail line alongside the motorways to encourage people onto public transport systems, rather than use their motor vehicles.

Dublin is gridlocked. I am from a rural area and it takes me longer to travel a 3 km stretch of road in Dublin than to travel the 100 km to the city. We should be examining ways and means of freeing up traffic in the city. All main routes connect to the city. Much of the traffic coming from Northern Ireland could be diverted through the midlands if roads such as the N55 were upgraded. It is an area that has been bypassed for quite a long time. In addition, will there be joined-up thinking in the various Departments?

The paper by the National Economic and Social Council describes a vision for the future. It outlines five building blocks, but the witnesses will be aware of how controversial some of those building blocks are at present across the midlands in respect of the first priority, developing wind energy. There are problems with wind turbines in the midlands. One will see meetings of up to 700 people gathering in a hall to protest. They are totally against the construction of those monstrosities in the countryside. The impact they will have on our tourism industry, people's homes, people's sleep patterns and so forth has been outlined to us repeatedly.

With regard to other renewables, we all witnessed what happened with the biofuel episode. It took off with a great fanfare of publicity a few years ago. However, there were no markets for the miscanthus grass and farmers who undertook producing that agricultural product were denied their establishment grants and so forth. There was a great buzz about that renewable crop at the time but nothing really happened. When the climate was not suitable for growing biofuel products farmers were denied the grants. It has left a very sour taste for getting people to adapt to change. This is something that must be addressed.

With regard to the wind turbines, there is little or no consultation by the companies that have been mandated to get them up and running across the midlands. That is the big problem with the general public. Representatives of the various companies have come here and met politicians on the issue, but there is very little consultation with the general public. A negative attitude is developing.

The EPA report talks about global action. What is required is a global treaty on the reduction of emissions. This must happen. There is huge public hunger for serious action on this issue and it is growing. We have heard the scientific case time and again and it is beyond doubt that action is needed. We have witnessed the erratic and extreme weather conditions in this country and, indeed, the poor people of Oklahoma are witnessing that as we speak.

There are huge challenges but there are a few questions I hope will be answered today. The cost of carbon tax will increase the cost of public transport. It should be designed to encourage people out of their cars and onto the public transport system. Even school transport costs have increased. It is a huge cost and it is impacting on the tourism industry as well. The policies have not been thoroughly thought through with regard to those issues.