Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 9 June 2021

Select Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed)

Photo of Denis NaughtenDenis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed. I accept the point the Minister of State has made about section 4 but those measures are not legally binding. The same thing is in place for rural-proofing and it is very much a box-ticking exercise. I know how this process works and I accept the principle of what the Minister of State is talking about. The reality is that this will be little more than a box-ticking exercise. He is right that the cost of taking measures in some areas is going to be significant and there is no doubt about that. There are considerable financial implications to those decisions. My fundamental problem is that the cheapest way to reduce emissions in Ireland is to reduce the size of the herd. That is by far the cheapest way to do it and there is no doubt about that. It is hugely challenging because of the types of targets this committee has set out, including a 51% reduction in transport emissions by 2030. The same applies to heating. There will be significant costs for the public and the Exchequer in implementing those targets. That is the reason it is important that a fair and transparent set of sectoral targets is put in place and that it is not only about the bottom line and the ultimate price. The fundamental problem with our approach up to now, sadly, is that it has been all about being penny wise and pound poor. That is what has led us into the situation we are in now. We should take strategic decisions which make perfect economic sense in the long term from a societal and budgetary point of view but cost a significant amount in the short term. I ask the Minister of State before Report Stage to look again at these particular mechanisms and the lack of any ratification process for the sectoral emissions ceilings. It is wrong that the Dáil is legislated out of this process and that is the fundamental flaw with this Bill.

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