Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

The need for gender proofing, poverty proofing and equality proofing which have characterised previous Government policy frameworks must now be met with a new addition, that of climate proofing. For those who do not already believe it, the recent Stern and IPCC reports have made it clear that we are facing the next great test of humanity. Climate change is happening and there is no longer any point in trying to deny it. There are only two options left, either ignore it or face the challenges head on and find innovative solutions to reduce our impact on the planet so future generations can survive.

Unfortunately, this Government, in its Finance Bill as in all its other legislation, has chosen to ignore the problem and leave it to tomorrow's leaders to deal with. Some people, like President Bush and the Tánaiste, Deputy McDowell, do not accept the overwhelming scientific evidence and do not see the imperative for action that is obvious to the rest of us. Even they, however, must still observe the economic arguments for action. Under the Kyoto Protocol, to which Ireland is bound, we must cut our carbon emissions significantly and failure to do so will cost us greatly in direct payments for carbon credits.

Addressing this matter in a serious manner gives us a great opportunity to be a carbon credit exporter. Surely one would expect a Government led by the Progressive Democrats, those champions of market solutions, to realise the potential in this area. Instead, they choose to ignore and evade. Rather than go slightly out of his way to make a difference, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, bought €270 million worth of carbon credits to keep us going for a few years. He also postponed implementation of the energy directive, which would require all vendors of new residential properties to provide, from 1 January this year, a building energy rating certificate with the title documents. The Minister changed the goalposts to ensure this obligation would apply only to residential buildings for which planning permission with effect from 1 January has been sought, thereby postponing an energy conservation mechanism for at least 18 months.

The cost of complying with the Kyoto Protocol will pale into insignificance with its successor after 2012. If Ireland has not reduced our carbon outputs to the prescribed levels by that date, we will be faced with an arduous struggle to meet the next set of targets. At minimum, these are likely to require a reduction to 1990 levels of emissions. There is, therefore, a financial imperative, even for those who ignore the environmental, ecological and moral imperatives for addressing climate change.

Just as in the past we moved to gender and poverty proof Government plans, we must start to climate proof them. That the Government would even consider issuing a national development plan — to be completed, coincidentally, at the same time as the Kyoto Treaty — without aggregating and costing its impact on the climate is irresponsible, reckless and incomprehensible. The increased carbon emissions caused directly and indirectly by the NDP could cost us billions of euro over the lifetime of the projects proposed. Despite this, the document and Government spokespersons, from Ministers to Deputies, are silent about its impact.

Ireland is particularly exposed to the consequences of climate change. Our ecology is strongly dependent on the Gulf Stream to keep temperatures a few degrees warmer than they would be otherwise. Without the Gulf Stream, we would experience harsh winters and cool summers and farming as we know it would be devastated. A change of just a few degrees in either direction in the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean or in its salt levels would be sufficient for such changes to occur. While it may appear otherwise to a Minister of State from the plains of Kildare, Ireland is an island nation with more than 80% of its population and all of its major cities in low-lying coastal areas. As such, it is among the countries most at risk from rising sea levels. Germany, France and other European Union member states do not face the direct and dangerous consequences we do if real action is not taken soon. Dublin is much more at risk from climate change than Paris, Berlin or Madrid. It is incumbent upon us not only to take action but to lead the rest of Europe and the world. The Government, however, after ten complacent years in office, has decided to ignore the problem.

Deputies know that the Fianna Fáil Party in Government likes to buy its way out of a bad situation, with elections it is about to lose being a key case in point. This time, however, all it is doing is buying time. Normally, when one needs to buy time, it is to allow serious action to be taken. That is not the case in this instance. The Government is buying time and the only plan it has down the line is to buy more time. Even a child could tell us that this approach is not sustainable because the financial bill imposed on this and successive generations will increase exponentially, as will the cost of meeting our commitments.

It is clear that Ireland needs to get back on track. This Government has neither the vision nor determination to deal with the problem of climate change. Only an immediate change of Government will result in it being addressed in a meaningful way. Fortunately, people will have a choice in about 100 days. They know where they can find a safe pair of hands for the economy, as my colleague, Deputy Michael D. Higgins showed in the figures he cited, and where they can find the vision, drive and commitment to address the challenges facing us. On the basis of the Bill before us and the national development plan launched with all the fanfare of a grubby election manifesto, the Government does not have answers to the problems we manifestly face.

See this speech in context