Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 10 July 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018: Discussion (Resumed)

11:00 am

Mr. Paul Allen:

We can design out the inertia. If we can send people to the moon and Elon Musk's car playing David Bowie into space, we can design the inertia out of the grid system if we choose to do so. It is a matter of deciding to do it and investing in it. It is a big opportunity for universities, technical colleges and researchers if we set that as a national goal.

On the Deputy's other question, we must recognise the need for a cultural shift. The scene is set for a cultural shift. People know we have to change. We have seen cultural shifts around race, class, gender and in the #MeToo campaign, and people know that continuing to damage the environment and burden future generations is no longer culturally acceptable. Institutional systems will have to shift to deal with that.