Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 20 June 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
Ireland's Trade Relationship with Canada: Discussion
Ms Jacqueline Gilna:
With Covid, everybody was working from home and that was good for our carbon footprint. That was the upside of Covid, if you could say that. With the Canadian Government, most of those employed through the various trade unions and other organisations are now required to go back to the office at least two days a week, though do not quote me as that is a subjective response. Therefore, there is great concern within the real estate investment trust, REIT, organisations, that is, the property development companies, etc., about how they are going to balance the vacancy versus the return on investment to their stakeholders and answer the drive for carbon-neutral operations. It is a very mixed response.
The government has put protocols and tax incentives in place, and as Dr. Giblin was saying, Catherine McKenna did quite a lot of work in that area. The carbon taxes we pay, the return to work and the tax incentives that are there should, all in all, provide for a balance. However, governments come and governments go and change, and with that policy changes. I suggest respectfully we are all heading towards elections at some time and that may change into the future, but among other agreements we have together, Canada and Ireland work very closely and are very aligned on both climate change and climate action in our respective operations and collaborative approaches together.