Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to have the opportunity to contribute briefly to the debate on this most important Bill, the Climate Action and Low Carbon (Development) Bill 2013. The Bill continues to lack real teeth, with no clear targets being set. The exhaustive hearings of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Cuilture and the Gaeltacht and its subsequent recommendations on which there was consensus have effectively been ignored by the Government. The Bill marks a regressive move back from the ambitious framework of targets to 2050 included in previous legislation, including Fianna Fáil's Bill in 2010, the all-party 2010 Bill and the Labour Party's 2009 Bill. It will delay action on the issue of climate change for a further two years as the Government kicks the can down the road.

The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, is following hard in the previous Minister, former Deputy Phil Hogan's footsteps in his failure to include a strategic target to be met by 2050. This exposes his failure to rise to the pressing challenge posed by climate change. Removing the responsibility for setting targets and leaving it to the European Union is an abrogation of duty. For the Labour Party, it is yet another broken promise as it fails to legislate for the goals included in its own legislation in 2009. Instead, it has settled for flawed and emasculated legislation.

Environmental groups roundly criticised the heads of the Bill for their lack of vision in setting out a meaningful strategic framework to address the issue of climate change. The Bill does not include the Government's own definition of "low carbon"; does not guarantee the independence of the climate advisory council and does not include the principle of climate justice. The failure to include specific targets to be met by 2050 will give rise to sectoral interests potentially hijacking the process and depriving the Bill of its long-term impact in shaping policy formation. Attaching targets linked with EU and international agreements alone is a cop-out. This was the Labour Party's position before it performed a U-turn on the issue on entering government.

The idea of having an expert advisory council is welcome, but the council must be given real resources and clear powers if it is to have a real impact on climate change policy. In the Bill it lacks real independence. The Oireachtas must debate its advice and reports and, unlike what is proposed in the Bill, the Government must consult it when developing a carbon strategy.

The Government has delayed the adoption of a national mitigation plan, with sectoral policy measures, by at least another two years. Ireland's last emissions reduction plan expired at the end of 2012, just before our challenging 2020 EU targets came into force. The Government promised a new plan by early 2014. In April 2014 the previous Minister, former Deputy Phil Hogan's draft Bill mandated that there be an action plan within 12 months of the climate law coming into force. The Bill gives the Government two years from enactment to come up with actual measures to reduce emissions.

The measure on the annual transition report is welcome and the report should be fully debated in the Oireachtas in holding the Government to account on its climate change strategy. A rigorous accountability system needs to be put in place to ensure public bodies will be the drivers of reform on climate change and play a leading role in innovating and implementing the Government's strategy. Specific public body climate change reports should be developed. This has to be driven at local government level also.

The principle of climate justice has been entirely ignored in the Bill. The Government has voiced support for the principle at the United Nations and co-hosted a conference on the issue, with Mrs. Mary Robinson, during Ireland's Presidency of the European Union. Was this simply a cynical exercise on its part?

Fianna Fáil is committed to having an ambitious environmental programme which includes tackling climate change. We published the Climate Change Response Bill 2010 on 23 December 2010 which completed First Stage in the Seanad before the Dáil was dissolved. It set out Fianna Fáil's commitment to legislating for a process that would allow us to plan for greenhouse emissions reductions and adaptation to climate change. Fianna Fáil believes this must be done in a way that safeguards economic development and competitiveness. Ireland's strategy should be consistent with EU targets and we have consistently supported the international process under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. A major change in our approach to climate change policy should be a new national priority, as we are no longer solely focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. While such reductions are important indicators of progress, we must also have a longer term and wider vision for creating a prosperous and sustainable Ireland.

The climate change Bill should enable us to pursue the objective of having a smart economy which is highly productive, competitive, resource-efficient and environmentally sustainable. We support the broad thrust of the findings of and recommendations made in the NESC's report. Five guiding principles for action on climate change should underpin Ireland's strategy to become a carbon-neutral society. These are economic prosperity, recovery and social development; incremental and permanent decarbonisation; responsibility, integrity and leadership; reform of public institutions and governance; and societal engagement. The fifth report of the International Panel on Climate Change revealed the massive scale of the challenge facing the world. It is a serious wake-up call in terms of the need to recognise the overwhelming scientific evidence and the impact climate change will have. It must give fresh impetus to the need for an international climate change framework to be agreed in Paris by the end of 2015 following the failure of the talks in Copenhagen. The European Union and within that framework the Irish Government have to take the lead in these matters.

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