Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I favour the Minister's approach over the alternative here. The amendment gives the impression that much of this change is avoidable and that we can start to assess in an academic way the impacts on different sectors. It suggests that if we think they are too great, there is some way in which we can prevent them or insulate against them. We have to have a dialogue of the sort the Minister has set out in the section. We are talking about creating a vision of a different, albeit prosperous, future for many of these sectors, and we are in a position where there is an imperative to change.

The concept of a just transition goes through the Government's entire approach. Under the heading, Mission: A Green New Deal, in the programme for Government, a just transition is set out in several sections, including a commitment to publishing a just transition plan and establishing a permanent commission for a just transition. There is a recognition that a just transition will go to the core of the work here. The section before us sets out that one of the conditions to which the Government and the Minister must have regard is the requirement for a just transition to a climate-neutral economy to maximise employment opportunities and to support persons and communities that may be negatively affected by the transition.

It goes to the heart of the Bill to create an environment where we deliver change that, unfortunately, we do not have the choice of considering whether we will or will not deliver. We have to make change but, more important, we have to create the vision of an alternative future that is prosperous for farmers. If we wait and allow an environment to develop whereby people feel we can put off change until another day, we will do a disservice to those very sectors and communities we are trying to support. The key is the dialogue the Minister underpins in the section, with the creation of a better and more prosperous sector if it is climate resilient and sustainable in its use of resources and has anticipated the negative impacts, and that that is supported by the just transition strategy set out in section 4(8)(k). While I can sympathise with people feeling they are threatened, the process we are in has to be about divining that new future, not analysing where we are now and hoping we can in some way prevent change happening, or wholly compensate people for everything that might change in that environment.

This transition is unavoidable. The tone of the alternative being offered, compared with what the Minister has set out, is too static.

It pretends we can stay where we are, take the time to reflect on many sectoral impacts and then decide whether to make change. We are past that period. The challenge is to work with communities to find this alternative future, which I am convinced is there. The sooner we start to create it, the sooner we will be on a path to sustainable prosperity.