Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Daly's Topical Issue matter fits in quite well mine. He talked about a local issue, the appalling flooding that many of his constituents have had to face, which is an aspect of climate change. That is the issue I am raising in terms of the need for Ireland to lead European efforts to halt the melting of the Arctic ice cap as part of our Presidency of the European Council.

Many people smiled on hearing about the Topical Issue matter I intended to raise and thought it quite amusing. However, the single issue that trumps all our economic problems in importance is climate change. We ignore this issue at our peril. The melting of the Arctic ice cap is a glaring example of this.

According to Steve Connor, science editor of the London Independent, writing on 28 August last year, the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by sea ice fell to 4.1 million sq. km. in the summer of 2012, which was a record low and 70,000 sq. km. below the previous record set in September 2007. These figures were compiled by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Boulder, Colorado. On 16 September last, the Arctic Ocean ice pack collapsed to its lowest level in thousands of years.

Why does this matter and why should we care? First, if the melting of Arctic ice continues, the enormous amount of methane gas locked under the Arctic Ocean and in sub-Arctic regions such as Siberia will be released and, as methane gas is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO₂, we will be in danger of runaway, catastrophic, irreversible climate change. Second, the Arctic ice cap acts as a mirror, reflecting some of the sun's rays back into space, and if the Arctic cap is gone, then there will be no reflection and that will add to the heating up of our world. Third, an obvious knock-on effect is if the Greenland ice sheet were to melt, then sea levels could rise substantially and this would put our coastal communities, such as those referred to by Deputy Jim Daly, at even greater risk. Fourth, in Ireland last year ,we experienced significant flooding events and the signs are that happens because when temperatures are higher, more moisture gets into the atmosphere, which will lead to greater rainfall in our case and more flooding.

As we currently hold the EU Presidency, we could set a good example by reaffirming our national goals for dealing with climate change. We need to take action to further reduce our emissions of harmful greenhouse gases as quickly as possible through investing in renewable clean and green technology industries such as wind, wave and solar energy production. The same applies at EU level. If we do it right, we can become world leaders in terms of renewable resource technology and can become a shining example to the rest of Europe and the world that despite the economic storm which we have endured, we took the right decisions. A report commissioned by the German Ministry of the Environment in 2011 suggested that the EU should try to reduce CO₂emissions to 30% below the 1990 levels, and suggested that an additional 6 million jobs could be rolled out in Europe to deliver on this. I urge the Minister of State and her senior Minister to promote this agenda to the maximum extent while we hold the EU Presidency.

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