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

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. The submission states that we need to focus on how climate action on transition is understood in the sector. The submission also states that we require early policy and practice in Ireland. We have to get in there early and be inclusive and engage with those potentially impacted by decarbonisation.

If I may, I want to ask questions about the one serious litmus test the State has faced on this, namely, the Bord na Móna workers who had to decarbonise and were made redundant. Normal redundancy is because a business has gone down but here, the State correctly took the policy to shut down peat production to enable us to deal with the climate chaos we are facing. This has been a good thing but I do not believe the experience of just transition has been a good thing for Bord na Móna workers. I say this because I met many of them and I attended some Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, seminars held in the midlands to discuss this issue.

Perhaps the witnesses have looked at this and if so, I would like them to comment. If not, perhaps they will comment on what I am about to say. Although there were early discussions with the Bord na Móna workers, they certainly were not collaborative. There was a lot of resistance from Bord na Móna management to allow certain sections of workers to apply for the redundancy. There was resistance to firming down their pension scheme. The alternative jobs they were offered were often at the minimum wage without trade union membership or pension rights enshrined. To me this is anything but a just transition for workers. Workers are not separate to communities. They are the communities, particularly in the areas where Bord na Móna was producing peat in midland towns. In larger and smaller towns this is what kept the communities going. There is a bitter taste in their mouths about how they were treated. I do not know whether the witnesses know much about it but if this is an early intervention, then we failed at the first hurdle. What can we learn from this and how can we get a better collaborative approach from all parties involved in future?