Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I probably cannot compete with Deputy Boyd Barrett's eloquence. I pay tribute to the quality of the submissions to the committee. I pay tribute to the Chairman who did an exceptionally good job to ensure everybody had a chance to contribute. It was a very warm summer when we were in the committee room Friday after Friday week after week going through every sector and listening to them very carefully. Regardless of their sectoral interests they had a shared common aim and concern. I pay tribute to the committee, the staff, the Senators and the Deputies who gave of their time so freely. I also pay tribute to the community groups, BirdWatch Ireland, the agricultural sector and all of the organisations who made very thoughtful and useful contributions which form a body of work which will continue to be referenced.

When Deputy Boyd Barrett was making his contribution BirdWatch Ireland popped into my mind. The quality of its contribution was particularly excellent and much thought was put into it. I remember seeing BirdWatch Ireland on the witness list and wondering whether it would consider only a very tiny area. It touched upon many of the issues raised by Deputy Boyd Barrett, including the hundreds and thousands of trees we need to plant throughout the countryside. It mentioned ill-advised planting and the damage to our rivers through acidification. Sometimes people throw out simplistic and populist solutions. Everybody is in favour of planting trees but not everybody is in favour of planting trees on the bogs which stretch throughout the country. It is an enormous carbon sink. One could plant hundreds of thousands of trees, but it would not match the carbon sink of one bog and the value it contributes to the climate and our biodiversity.

I could touch on the many very well thought-out contributions made to the committee. Deputy Stanley, who has left the Chamber, was here for most of the morning. He spent hour after hour in the committee room. Some people continue to perceive the expert advisory council as lacking independence in its advice-giving functions but this is a double-edged sword. Nobody would thank us for an expert advisory group which is too far removed from the real world but nobody in the Government wants the expert advisory group to be a lap-dog of the Government. They want well thought-out and well-researched advice. There is a need for a level of expertise on the council. As the member of the committee who proposed the expert advisory committee, I can inform the House it is in some ways modelled on the Fiscal Advisory Council. As a member of the Government I am anxious to ensure the expert advisory group has the expertise required to provide advice, and that its membership includes people with particular agricultural, industrial and carbon measurement expertise so the advice will be truly valued. The Minister of the day will have to explain if he or she does not take its advice. My intention as a public representative, member of the Government and Minister of State is that the advisory body will be expert and independent. I hope to be here for many years to ensure I can hold the expert advisory group to these high ideals.

Many fine contributions have been made and many included references to the hard numbers for migration targets. I probably had the same view, and I listened to the advice of people with expertise in the area. It was much discussed. Migration targets will be agreed by all member states of the European Union, including Ireland, on an incremental basis over the coming decades. The report states these will be transcribed into legislation and I very much support this idea. There is no point in us setting hard figures if we find they are below what is negotiated in the EU as they would immediately be redundant.

As I walked into the Chamber, Deputy Boyd Barrett was stating the Government had taken on tiny minorities in the agricultural sector. Agriculture is an extremely important industry and it employs hundreds of thousands of people. We must ensure these people do not lose their jobs and we must give equal importance to ensuring we do the climate as little damage as possible, and possibly no damage. The agricultural sector was equally anxious to examine areas in its industries with a view to becoming a low carbon part of the economy. We must not work with a tiny sector of the agricultural community but with the hundreds of thousands of people employed in it and ensure we can reduce carbon emissions while ensuring we maintain employment. Yesterday I travelled through east Clare. Given the number of people involved in agriculture there, it is not a tiny sector. It is important to local shops, veterinarians, pubs and shops. Without a thriving agricultural sector we would lose hundreds of thousands of jobs.

What I believe is important is the climate we leave to our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The independent expert advisory council will play a significant role in the coming years. A recommendation in the report, which I believe will be accepted by the Government, is that the Minister makes an annual report to the House. This means we will discuss climate change here on an annual basis so it will not slip off the agenda.

On the previous Government, I will pay tribute to the Green Party which had it as a priority to bring forward a climate change Bill. I apologise if I misrepresent them in stating it was reported that they stayed in government to have a climate action and low carbon development Bill enacted. Unfortunately, their partners in government blocked that and the Bill was watered down to such an extent that it stated that one could not challenge it in a judicial system. Such language is not in the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015, which is extremely important.

I am happy, as a member of the Government, an elected Deputy in this House, and a former member of the committee Deputy McCarthy chaired, to say that we have a good report a number of elements of which the Government has taken on board, but for the first time since the foundation of the State we will pass a Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill and place it on the Statute Book to be built on for decades to come.

We will look back in five or six years time, taking out the noise. I understand Deputy Boyd Barrett must portray everything the Government does as being wrong or not good enough, that it will damage hundreds of thousands of people and disaster will unfold, but this is an incremental improvement. I think it is groundbreaking and it will be improved on in future years and decades. It will be remarked upon that the Labour Party and Fine Gael in government introduced a climate action and low carbon development Bill.

I apologise to the Acting Chairman, Deputy Tuffy, and thank her for indulgence in letting me run over.

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