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

It is very important that we try to institute a situation in which we live closer to our work and we live in towns and villages. We should also move towards the use of public transport rather than private transport. That requires examining the situation and doing things differently. That is something on which the Government and future Governments need to work with as much speed as possible.

Climate justice is an important issue to which I wish to refer briefly. I note that the Minister recognised that in his opening address. It is a very important issue because those who will be most adversely affected by climate change are those who have done the least to cause it.

Agriculture is an area of particular difficulty, given that cattle are a major contributor to climate problems. It is a tricky area because this country is very suited to cattle production in terms of milk and beef. One way to mitigate some of the harmful effects produced by agriculture is to encourage the development of forestry to the maximum possible degree. Some work has been done and continues to be done in that regard. It strikes me that there is much territory in this country with marginal land that would be suitable for forestry. Perhaps we could speed up the development of forestry as much as possible. Could the Minister provide a definition of "low carbon"?

I welcome the Bill. I hope we can expedite the setting up of institutional arrangements to bring about action on climate change in order to achieve our targets as rapidly as possible and that we make the maximum effort to explain to the public why it is in people's interests to do so. Some justification is provided by difficult weather events such as the winter weather we experienced just over a year ago. Although there is an understandable tendency on the part of the farming lobby to rebel against some of what might be coming down the tracks, at the same time it must be recognised that farmers are also the first group of people to be really aware of the gradual climate change with which they must deal. I hope that will help them to appreciate the urgency of the issue.

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