Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action

Finalisation of Draft National Energy and Climate Plan and the National Long-Term Strategy: Discussion

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I have not seen the Bill. We will have to look at the legality of it to see if we can do it under the Chicago Convention, which may present real difficulties. It will not, as I said, do anything to close the gap we are discussing here today that we need to close.

I will refer to the point Deputy Murphy made earlier. There are trade-offs. It is difficult. Sometimes decisions have to be made - not just in Dublin as some of these hard calls will have to be made along the Wicklow coast - in which there will be some impact on biodiversity from some of the renewable power systems we have to develop. We need to make those calls. Part of our biggest problem has been public opposition or lack of political support for some of the difficult changes, particularly in transport and in land use and agriculture. It is all difficult. I am very proud we went into Government to effect change and to deliver real long-term change, which sometimes takes time. We will see the benefits from the decisions we are making in government in the next decade and in the one beyond that. The key question is whether we stop and start. Does the next Government continue to take the course we are taking? If it does, we can meet our targets. It is really challenging. The exact year of delivery may arrive a year later. It requires consistent, brave decision-making which is what we have provided in Government.