Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations.

We are in a bubble here and we are not dealing with reality in the way we are talking about this. I remind everybody that we are talking about climate change. Has the Department studied the recent IPCC report? This conversation does nothing to deal with the urgency of the situation we are facing. That report warned us that within the next dozen years or so, we are in danger of overheating the planet to a degree where we will put species and human life in danger. We have done enough damage. My first question is on the carbon tax because Mr. Moran said that the ESRI study demonstrates that even if we double the tax to €40 per tonne, it would only result in a 5% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions, which, while welcome, goes nowhere near dealing with the challenges we face.

Later he said that he does not agree with the Citizens' Assembly's recommendation regarding an independent body. Yet there is a joke around this building that this is the committee on climate inaction. That is often said to me. This committee is getting that name because the Government's inaction on dealing with climate change is apparent. If I was Mr. Watt in his Department, I would seriously examine what I do to double or treble public transport provision to get cars off the road and to end that culture that he talked about of us driving everywhere and to get rid of the idea that fuel poverty is acceptable. MABS conducted a study recently on the constituency I live in, and one quarter of households live in fuel poverty. They spend more money trying to keep themselves warm than they do on food. In doing so, they are burning more gas and coal. These are the issues that his Department should be tackling. He uses the unfortunate example - given what has happened recently in education - of the choices we make about the types of school buildings that we decide to spend money on. Given the disaster that those choices have proven to be in the recent past, it was an unfortunate choice. Nevertheless it does not go near-----