Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Carroll for his presentation. It is welcome to see progress on this important Bill, for which we have awaited for a long time. I see the committee's role as one of making the Bill as strong as possible.

I view the Bill with completely sceptical eyes because I want to make it very robust to ensure it will not only withstand this term of Government but will also reach forward and be used well into the future. I look at it as if it has been implemented by a Minister who is a complete climate denier. I want it to be very strong legislation. There are a few areas where the Bill needs to be strengthened. My colleague mentioned the language used, which I believe is very loose. It will be difficult to hold anyone to account for certain aspects of the Bill. The 2015 Act used language such as "to pursue, and achieve, the transition" to a low carbon economy, whereas this Bill refers to pursuing that. That is very much a weakening of the language. There are also issues with the Paris Agreement in that the Bill must only have regard to the agreement. There are areas in the Bill where we need to strengthen the language to ensure we have accountability going forward.

Another issue is the absence of interim targets. How we get to 2050 is very important. There needs to be an obligation to have interim targets, stick to them and, where necessary, correct course if the Government is failing to meet them. That is not provided for and it is definitely a weakness in the Bill. There also needs to be a binding duty to meet the interim targets.

There is a big gap in the Bill when it comes to the just transition. Mr. Carroll indicated that climate justice covers the just transition but traditionally climate justice has a more global understanding. It is important to include climate justice in the Bill as well as the voices of the people who will be most impacted by the legislation. We must ensure their voices are heard in the development and implementation of the Bill and the policies that will support it. It is important that we bring people along with us as it is the only way we will achieve any climate measures.

Mr. Carroll stated the Bill would ensure gender equality and gender balance on the advisory council. That is not the case as the text provides that the "best endeavours" must be used. Again, that is loose language which will not achieve what we hope to achieve.

While the Bill includes a long list of areas of expertise, members of the advisory committee must have knowledge of only one of these areas. Theoretically, therefore, we could have an advisory committee full of economists or engineers. We need to ensure there is a spread of expertise.

I would like to see a reflection of nature-based solutions in the Bill. Nature-based solutions and the biodiversity crisis are two heads of the same coin. While I welcome the amendment to the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007, I would also like to see that reflected in the primary legislation.