Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will not go back over what has been said. The witnesses have all made very important presentations. It is clear from everybody around the table that there is a crisis in terms of our lack of ability as an Oireachtas and a Government to address this issue. Things are getting worse and worse. It is very clear when we look at the graph provided by the Department, which sets out how Ireland compares within the EU, just how far we are behind everybody else. My first question to the Department is does it think this issue has reached a crisis point? Does the Department identify and does the Minister indicate that this is a crisis that needs to be addressed? All that flows from this can be helpful.

It is always good to get a perspective of where we are at, where we are not at, how we are doing and how we are not doing and it is very clear it is not working. What we then need is concrete advice and things we can do. Professor FitzGerald spoke about a carbon tax. This is obviously an item we must look at. The carbon price floor has been examined. This is an action item we can look at. We can stop the subsidy to peat fire stations. These are three concrete things we have to take on board but there must be more. Mention was made of transport and heat. We need to get direction from the witnesses, as experts, as to what will have a meaningful impact on our emissions and what we can do. There are things we cannot do. There is an issue with agriculture, no doubt about it, but if we were to halve the national herd overnight we would have a crisis in terms of being able to feed people, so this is not an option. There are other measures that can be supported and I thank Mr. Healy for outlining them.

With regard to electric vehicles, people in my constituency tell me they bought into the idea of climate change and got an electric vehicle but while there are three charging points in Ennis none of them are working, and this goes on for weeks. I think I am answering my previous question for Mr. Carroll because if it was a crisis for the Department, these issues would be to the fore and action would be taken. We showed as a country and a Legislature the capacity to deal with a financial crisis. We took really tough decisions that impacted massively on the lifestyle and lives of people. Some people suffered electorally for that but it really was the right thing to do regardless of the political consequences that some suffered. We are heading in the same direction. There is a crisis of equal proportion but nobody is addressing it because it is not real and substantial in terms of the impact on a daily basis.