Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

This is the first opportunity to speak in the House about climate change under the portfolio of this Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and it is disappointing that he is not present for the debate. It is surprising also because the Green Party and the Minister, Deputy Gormley, have made climate change the main plank of their participation in Government.

Climate change is a vital issue. It is welcome that it is on the agenda in a way that was not the case before the Green Party got into Government. It is an issue we must address and there are steps we could take that would be of benefit to us as a society and an economy but the way the Minister is using this issue is detrimental to what he should be about, namely, protecting our environment. There have been no reductions in emissions, and the Minister is not planning on there being actual reductions in emissions up to 2012 when this Government's terms in office will end. Everything the Minister is doing is on the surface; there is not substance to it. It is all about appearances, public relations and spin. It started with the carbon budget, which was not a carbon budget at all. In that carbon budget the Minister admitted — what else could he do — that for the next five years the way we will achieve our carbon reductions is by purchasing carbon credits. There will be no reduction of carbon emissions while the Greens are in Government.

The latest report from the EPA about carbon emissions in Ireland showed that they are increasing. Carbon emissions increased from 2005 to 2006. There was a marginal decrease shown, but that was because of the closure of Moneypoint. In fact, there was no reduction in emissions. For example, there was a considerable increase in transport emissions. There has been a 165% increase on the 1990 transport emissions, with road transport accounting for 97% of the transport sector emissions. There is no way we will reduce our emissions in line with the Kyoto Protocol. There is no way we will reach the EU targets to which the Minister wants us to sign up for 2020, if we carry on the way we are going.

There is no fast-tracking of public transport. In fact, buses are being forced off the road. Dublin Bus has been made take buses off routes in Lucan, Swords and Blanchardstown. Private bus companies have withdrawn their services because they cannot operate under the current licensing system. The Department will not allow Dublin Bus put extra buses on the road. It is turning down Dublin Bus applications, for example, to provide extra buses for my area of Lucan at peak hours. This is the type of initiative that would reduce our carbon emissions and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is just sitting back and doing nothing about it.

One cannot question the Minister on his policies on climate change because if one does, he makes one out to be in favour of climate change. If one raises the many complex issues involved such as whether it is good for the environment and whether it will affect people who are not wealthy, the Minister just laughs them off and makes one out to be somehow colluding in climate change.

Recently the Minister publicised a climate change survey which his Department carried out. He highlighted that 90% of people thought climate changed needed to be dealt with, but he did not disclose, until I tabled a number of parliamentary questions and emailed him, that when the public were asked, for example, were they in favour of an 8% increase on car fuel, a 10% increase on a bag of coal or 10% on a bale of briquettes, a 6% increase on a typical gas bill or an 8% increase on a delivery of home heating oil, the majority were opposed to such increases. They were opposed because they knew they would not be fair. Why would it be fair to jack up the price of petrol or home heating fuel when there are no alternatives provided and when one has no option but to use a car? The public are not stupid. Of course they want to do something about climate change and they care about the environment. However, they want fairness and measures that really are about reducing our carbon emissions, not just stealth taxes, revenue raising measures or measures which are purely to make the Minister look like he is doing something.

As I stated, this is complex. Climate change is an extremely important issue for the world and for us in Ireland, but it is not the only issue. We must deal with issues such as famine and poverty.

We must deal with the issues here at home as well. A considerable amount of people in Ireland live below the bread line and cannot afford fuel, for example. The issue of fuel poverty is one which my colleague, Deputy McManus, has raised but it is not being raised by the Greens in Government. If one applied the type of carbon taxes the Minister seems to plan, one would impact on inflation and the cost of living. The cost of food has risen considerably in this country over the past year and people are pressed by their food bills etc.

The Green Party is using climate change to mask what they are not doing in Government about the environment. The Greens used be the party of the environment and it looks like that has been left behind. It is not the priority it used to be for them. Nor is quality of life. They used be called the quality of life party. They are not a quality of life party, quite the opposite. They are leaving people stuck in traffic with a poor quality environment, poor quality water etc. All of the issues the Green Party used say in Opposition were a damning indictment on the Government, a black mark on Ireland etc., are now legacy issues, according to the Minister, who absolves himself of responsibility.

No doubt environmental issues are out of control. Of course these issues did not just arise when Deputy Gormley became Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, but he is the Minister now. For example, habitats are important in terms of reacting to and addressing climate change, and if one makes habitats resilient and of good quality, they are better able to deal with the impacts of climate change. A recent report by the National Parks and Wildlife Service found that of 59 protected habitats, only four, or 7%, had good status overall with the remainder either poor or bad.

There is the landfill issue. A recent ESRI report found that 80% of household waste is going to landfills and that there is a discrepancy between the stated policy of the Government and the landfill policies in place. Ireland is in significant danger of missing its European Union targets for diverting recyclable waste from landfill, according to the EPA this year.

There have been U-turns such as the one on the M3. Recently it has been reported that vital archeological information was apparently not provided to the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government at the time about the archeology along the M3 before he gave the route the go-ahead. What has the Minister done about that? He has just let it go ahead. He is not even properly protecting the national monuments. It was protestors who really had to force the issue in the case of Rath Lugh, for example.

The Minister is not stopping incineration. He used to oppose incineration; now he is just opposed to where it is located. What is that about?

There is the issue of Haulbowline and the threat to public, marine and animal life. It was important to the Greens that people had proper participation in environmental decisions. Nothing has been done about that since the Greens entered Government.

There is nothing being done to stop urban sprawl. There have been no amendments to the planning Act. There has been phenol contamination of the Cavan and Monaghan water supply. I asked the Minister a question about that at one stage and he stated it had nothing to do with him. It was only when I pushed it that he stated he would consider the reports and recommendations from the HSE and the two county councils.

There is pollution from transport. Noise pollution, which is bad for people's health, is becoming a greater issue. There is poor water quality. One in three water supplies tested by the EPA were found to be of poor quality. There is today's judgment about Derrybrien on the fact that proper environmental impact statements are not required in Ireland.

As I stated, the Greens are not doing anything about quality of life. If they concentrated on the environment and quality of life, they would reduce carbon emissions. If one provided proper public transport, one would reduce carbon emissions. Instead, the Minister is all about the targets, for which he buys credits. He is not doing anything about people's quality of life and their right to good public transport, which reduces emissions and results in better quality air. Instead, it is about changing the type of car one buys and buying bio-fuels to ease one's conscience. Social justice in these matters just does not rate with the Greens.

There are some small gains. A good development is obviously the pilot scheme for the insulation of houses, although the Government slashed the greener homes scheme as soon as it came into office. Other than that, it is tinkering around the edges on issues such as light bulbs and carbon purchases, where their view is let us pay on the double for Ministers' travel — for their flights and then for their consciences.

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