Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I truncated my opening statement but if one looks at ambition, the EPA’s projections are very clear and they show that, with additional measures, we will fall short of our targets for 2030. However, that should not be a reason to raise the white flag on this either because there are certain sectors that have performed well. We have seen significant emissions reductions in 2023, which I referred to. We use one example in relation to renewables. We have immense potential to scale up renewables in our energy system. Just 20 years ago, in 2005, only 7% of our electricity was generated by renewables. Last year, it was 40%. Solar in 2018 accounted for 0.6% of electricity. Last year, the provisional figure, and this comes with a health warning, was that solar accounted for about 10%. Unquestionably, if we look at where emissions reductions were in 2023, there was a significant decrease, particularly in electricity, which was down 21.4%, with industry down 6.1%, agriculture down 4.9% and residential down 7.1%. In transport, particularly with about 1 million extra vehicles on our roads, we need to accelerate the move towards electric vehicles. There are things we can achieve but we need to redouble our efforts and look at how we can support our people in this transition.

I do not think the point is made often enough that in recognising the challenge if climate and the legal and moral imperatives we have to play our part in reducing emissions, there are massive economic opportunities for this country to be at the leading edge of green technologies. We are small enough to be able to move quickly. We have seen that in the renewables area already. We will see construction in this decade of significant offshore renewables and realise their potential. This will change our energy system for generations into the future.