Ms Yvonne O'Callaghan:

The Deputy asked had we engaged in the mitigation plan. Both ICTU and SIPTU wholeheartedly engaged in that process and our submissions can be found on its website. On the national dialogue on climate action and regional meetings, our local shop stewards and workers from these industries and others, because we should be clear that climate action is an issue for all workers, are engaging in that process. SIPTU submitted a document of almost 15 pages to the Citizens' Assembly and was shortlisted for discussion by assembly members.

It was the union movement at international level that put the just transition into the Paris Agreement. The unions pushed hard at the United Nations climate change conference, COP24, this week, and prior to that, to have a just transition statement. What this week's declaration means for workers is that they have a seat at the negotiation table, which is crucial. What we do not have now is social dialogue around these issues. Senator Devine asked about this in regard to the midlands. For the past two years, we asked for the Department, under the Ministers, Deputies Naughten and subsequently Bruton, to undertake research on the impact on the midlands but this has not happened. When the Department was before the committee six weeks ago, officials stated clearly that that research would be ready in January but, in response to parliamentary questions in recent months, they answered that terms of reference for that project were yet to be agreed. While we have campaigned for two years for the research, the Department has not been forthcoming in undertaking it. That research would have been very important for people in the midlands, whether they work in Bord na Móna, ESB or otherwise.

We alluded to a few examples regarding the just transition. An example of somewhere as small as ourselves and also an island is New Zealand, where the government has developed a just transition and economic diversification plan based on social dialogue with the unions and broad stakeholder consultation. In September, the government in Scotland established a national just transition commission with unions and stakeholders. It is important that the declaration which came out of the Poland conference this week bases the just transition on social dialogue. That is what is needed from Government.