Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate Deputy Catherine Murphy for bringing forward this legislation.

The Bill is specific. Section 3, as has been mentioned, refers to specific objectives such as energy efficiency, reducing energy demand and reducing fossil fuel dependancy. Section 4 sets the targets and sections 5 and 6 set out the national plan to achieve those.

It is strange to hear Deputy Mulherin state the Bill is a little premature when, four years ago to a week, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, brought in a similar Bill containing specifically targets that Deputy Catherine Murphy has raised in her Bill. There was also a cross-party Bill, drafted by Deputy Gilmore, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, and the Minister, Deputy Hogan, which also contained targets.

Friends of the Earth has contacted us, as I am sure Members will be aware, stating that a climate change Bill with no targets would be laughable and it appears that is the line the Minster, Deputy Hogan, is taking. He does not seem to want to include targets. Perhaps we can get more clarity from Deputy Hogan on that. All four climate change Bills initiated in the Dáil since 2009, including the Bill being debated today, had an 80% target for 2050. This is the least Ireland must do by 2050. The European Council of EU leaders has already endorsed the target of 80% to 95%. Friends of the Earth makes the point that it is inconceivable that the Government would propose a Bill without targets and to do so while Ireland holds the Presidency of the European Union would be deeply embarrassing. The Bill is quite timely on the issue of targets on climate change and how we go about reaching them.

If the Minister is aware of the following matter, perhaps he would refer to it in his response. I refer to the BER rating on the insulation of homes, both the interior and exterior, introduced in 2010 and the corresponding grants to encourage householders to insulate their homes, bring down carbon emissions and, obviously, use less energy. Anybody to whom I have spoken who has got this job done, in particular the external insulation, finds it efficient and effective. It has reduced their bills quite considerably and that can only be good in the context of reducing consumption of energy, particularly fossil fuels. What more can the Minister do in that regard? Householders get grants for such work. Whereas in the past replacement of a home's electricity box was done without charge, I note now this is being charged for. Such little changes are putting householders off going down the road of insulating their homes.

A question I submitted to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government sought a report on the amount of local authority housing tenants who have reported problems with condensation and moisture. It is a big issue, particularly in my constituency, perhaps due to the age of the housing in the areas of Drimnagh and Crumlin, some of which is 70 or 80 years old. The problem of the build-up of moisture is significant. It has got to a stage where every week families are having to remove their children from these homes to try to clean them down to remove the moisture and they need ever more heating to try to clear the moisture.

I believe that all local authority housing that is been done up must have the BER rating and work is done on that, but existing homes cannot avail of that. In this regard, there is something of a problem or, to a certain degree, an inequality because tenants cannot apply for grants to insulate their homes. They are in no man's land from the point of view that their homes need it, they cannot access the grants and the local authorities will not support them in any way, even in giving a loan which they could pay back on their rent. I am probably going into too much detail here. If we had a national public programme of insulation of homes and schools, it would play an important part in this. For example, the energy rating of Our Lady of the Wayside school in Bluebell is low because the school is so old. I proposed that it contact the Department about the grant that can be got for installing energy-saving insulation in schools. Schools and public buildings would benefit greatly from reduced energy usage if there was a public programme in that regard. That is something that must be done. It is a basic improvement that can be achieved. Has the Minister thought about giving local authorities the authority to apply for grants to insulate their tenants' homes? It is related to what we in the United Left Alliance have always called for, a programme of public works putting people back to work on public buildings, schools and local authority housing. This would go a long way.

Without repeating much of what has been stated already about national climate change policy, I want to raise this aspect of it and ask the Minister and the Ministers of State what they are doing in that regard. Are they looking at allowing the local authorities play some role in solving this considerable problem? We have seen it in St. Michael's Estate, St. Teresa's Gardens and all the big flat complexes, residents of which have brought cases on moisture and dampness in their homes to the European Court. Is there a way in which the Department could allow local authorities to look for grants and link-in with the tenants to insulate their homes and the flat complexes?

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