Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party)
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I thank the witnesses for their attendance. There has been a lot of deep thinking and conversation. From what Professor Anderson said, it is really clear that we should have taken action many years ago and that we are in dangerous waters, are unlikely to hit the 1.5°C target, many people are already dying around the world and this country has imposed a lot of that on poorer countries. What is also clear from the opening statements is that there is no mention of intergenerational justice or justice for other parts of the world. This is not to say that I believe the witnesses do not think this is important. It does, however, outline why for us this question of just transition is so difficult to pin down. The witnesses spoke about the inherent complexity around the sharing of burdens and opportunities but we have had many of the opportunities and placed burdens on other countries under the current model, which has got us where we are. If we look at the current workforce in Ireland, we are not really taking the opportunities for future generations into account when it comes to the actions we are taking. From a legislative point of view, we do not want to be tied up in court cases about job losses - we want to ensure they do not happen - and, therefore, cannot take action. Neither future generations nor people in other countries can take those court cases on the basis of what is happening now. How from a very practical point of view can we ensure that we define just transition in a way that will not allow us to get out of some difficult decisions that must be taken? I take on board a lot of what Professor Anderson said about Thomas Piketty, the owners of capital and how there needs to a greater emphasis on them but how do we put this all into legislation that will not tie us up forever and get us out of meeting these very real challenges?