Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

I welcome many of the comments made by Deputies Hogan and Tuffy. There is a clear consensus in the House that we need to tackle climate change. We may disagree on the methods and the detail of the measures needed but there is a consensus. Five years ago, when the Green Party, in Opposition, published its first climate change Bill we were ridiculed on Opposition and Government benches. Today, the debate has moved on and I am heartened by the buy-in on all sides of the House to tackling climate change. I pay tribute to the work of the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security, which we insisted on establishing in our first programme for Government to ensure that all parties were speaking the language of transition and of tackling climate change. Much of that work is enshrined in what is before the House today.

Deputy Tuffy seems to suggest that we have moved beyond a key concern with environmental issues to talking more - or maybe not talking more - about climate change. I ask Deputy Tuffy to look back two decades to when my colleague and party leader, the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, published The Green Guide for Ireland in 1990. The key chapter in that publication on climate change was written by the Minister. It is disingenuous to suggest that he has only recently discovered climate change. It was a core issue for me, even at the time of me joining the Green Party 28 years ago. The science and ideas have moved on, and into the mainstream, but it would be disingenuous to suggest that the Green Party has a newly found interest in climate change. I wish to put that suggestion to bed.

Transition - in the building sector, agriculture, transport, energy and planning - is at the heart of the budget. All of these are areas where we can make a positive move towards reducing our carbon footprint. In construction, warmer homes that are cheaper to heat are already being built. That is because we racked up building regulations by 40% in our first year in office. We will bring this to 60% by the end of this year. That is what I call transition. There have been radical changes in building regulations. The warmer homes and greener homes schemes mean that people in existing buildings can get assistance to improve their homes. This help is not merely available to people who have a significant income. If one does not have an income coming into the house, the State is there to help through the schemes that are in place.

There is a good news story in agriculture. Irish agriculture is one of the most carbon efficient in the world. Keeping cattle on grass for the best part of the year is a good news story. We can hold our heads high in terms of the carbon required to produce a kilogramme of beef on Irish soil on Irish family farms, compared to what one might see in other parts of the world that have extremes of temperature and less rainfall. The work Bord Bia is doing with the Carbon Trust in the United Kingdom will sell the good news story that Irish farms have to tell.

It is not just about beef. There is a bright future in horticulture, fruit, vegetables and other aspects of farming, and in the move away from the narrower aspects of farming into other areas where we can make a profit for Irish family farms. There is a future in energy crops, wind energy and forestry. All of these are areas where we see a bonus coming to the Irish farmer by diversifying into other areas. Through the agri-environmemt scheme, Europe is asking how we can move towards more sustainable farm practices and give assistance in doing so. That is a good news story. We are leading the way in many aspects of what we do.

Deputy Tuffy mentioned fuel poverty. We increased the fuel allowance in this year's budget to tackle the kind of disadvantage The Spirit Level addresses. It is important that we provide for that kind of movement in the right direction.

Today is one of the most important days in the current Dáil term and one of the most rewarding for the Green Party in Government. We have debated climate change issues many times but today we are laying the foundations for elevating climate policy to the level of a key national priority. That is a milestone for the future well-being and prosperity of the people of this country.

In his carbon Budget Statement, the Minister said: "Our success as an economy and as a society in the low-carbon world of tomorrow will be determined by the preparations, commitment and effort we are prepared to invest in underpinning our response to climate change." We are now on course to ensure that all new policies introduced across the economy will be both economically and environmentally sustainable in the long term.

I was heartened by the buy-in I saw in Cancun last week from 191 countries around the world including the Holy See, the United States of America, Japan and the Maldives, which face very different challenges and concerns with regard to climate change. There was a key difference between this year in Cancun and last year in Copenhagen. Last year, we did not get an agreement because many countries felt we were trying to go too far. This year in Mexico, one country - Bolivia - dissented because it felt we were not going far enough. That is the key issue.

The comprehensive agreement reached last week is extremely positive in nature. This is particularly the case because, under its provisions, a green climate fund from which €100 billion will be available by the year 2020 is to be established. We must assist countries in the developing world in meeting these low carbon goals. The agreement reached at Cancún has provided both an impetus and a belief on the part of developing and developed countries regarding the need to bring carbon use to a peak and thereafter allow it to decline. I am pleased with the move towards contraction and convergence that I witnessed last week.

In my speech to COP 16, I quoted the Russian poet, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, who some 40 or 50 years ago stated: "The young ... will not forgive in us what we forgave." That is why, as the Minister, Deputy Gormley, outlined, the Green Party in government is taking strong action in respect of addressing climate change. It is crucial, for the future prosperity of our country, that we continue to transition to a low-carbon, climate-resistant, environmentally-sustainable economy. The latter is already happening.

People often complain about the amount of hot air emanating from Leinster House. However, I must point out to Deputy Tuffy that in the past year a biomass boiler which provides much of the heat required within buildings occupied by the Oireachtas was put in place within the Leinster House complex. I am pleased that the Houses of the Oireachtas is leading the way with regard to the transition to a low-carbon economy. We are leading not just in terms of the actions we have taken in respect of our own accommodation, but also in the context of putting in place the building blocks of legislation that will set Ireland on the course to a low-carbon future.

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