Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to discuss sustainable development in Ireland. I propose to analyse existing Government policy before discussing the progress - or lack of it - that has been made by the Government in implementing that policy. I will examine the role of sustainable development in two of the primary areas of this country's economy - agriculture and planning. I will also consider the need for sustainable development to be part of our relationships with our international partners, including those at EU level.

Real sustainable development must be at the core of future public policy domestically and internationally. Fianna Fáil has made significant progress over the past decade in advancing environmentally friendly policies and copperfastening the role of sustainable development at the heart of public policy. The words of the current Government must be matched with action. It is vital for the Minister, Deputy Hogan, to stop stonewalling on the climate change Bill. He needs to begin to make real progress on that issue. Sustainable development is about striking the right balance between the economy, social issues and the environment and ensuring that people in Ireland and other parts of the world are able to enjoy economic prosperity, social progress and a high-quality environment now and into the future. Rather than gains in one of these areas being offset by losses in the other two, we need to get all three to work together if we are to improve people's quality of life.

I acknowledge the Government's specific policies in this area, as set out in its framework for sustainable development. I recognise and empathise with the objectives of the Government framework, which are to "identify and prioritise policy areas and mechanisms where a sustainable development approach will add value and enable progress towards the strategy aims", to "highlight and promote existing sustainable practices that, with the correct support, can underpin sustainable development more generally", to "strengthen policy integration, coherence and co-ordination and bring a long-term perspective to decision-making", to "set out governance mechanisms which ensure effective participation within Government and across all stakeholders", to "set out clear measures, responsibilities and timelines in an implementation plan", to "set out how progress is to be measured and reported on through the use of indicators" and to "incorporate adequate and effective monitoring, learning and improvement into the Framework process". These objectives will remain mere objectives as long as the Government delays the laying of proper foundations for their development.

As I said earlier, the Government has yet to publish a climate change Bill, which should be an integral part of any strategy to combat global warming. It needs to set a series of targets across society to ensure environmentally friendly practices. Rather than prioritising this issue, the Government has allowed it to languish on the C list of its legislative agenda, which relates to Bills that are due to be published next year. When Deputies ask about legislation each day on the Order of Business, it is becoming more frequent for them to be told that a Bill will be introduced next year, as opposed to this session. Next year will be a long year. The Government's actions are not matching the rhetoric that was evident in the soundbites that were rushed out before and after last year's general election. Both of the parties that are now in government made such commitments. The Labour Party said that no property tax would be introduced while it was part of any Government. It said that red-line items such as child benefit would not be touched.

The new Government said things would be done differently. Reference was made to burning bondholders, abolishing the Seanad in the new Administration's first year and safeguarding against cuts in welfare and tax increases. Having boxed itself into a corner on such a wide range of issues, the Government has destroyed the huge level of trust that was placed in it by a large majority of the people of the State. That is not great for democracy. It does not give us much confidence in the leadership qualities that the Government aspires to as it tries to lead the country out of the recession and to prepare policy frameworks on a wide range of issues that will benefit the economy and the environment into the future. The trend that appears to be emanating from Government circles in recent months is evident in many of the examples I have mentioned, including the climate change Bill languishing on the C list.

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