Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Climate Change and Low Carbon Development Bill 2015. It is an issue that affects all of us, especially those of us in agriculture. It is very important to set targets and to have oversight of their progress but there is an inclination to set targets and to try to make the transition to a low-carbon economy without actually considering what that practically entails. We need to make sure our ambitions are practically feasible and that there are no negative consequences from not preparing properly for what we have to embark on.

In the UK there is a renewable heat incentive scheme where an incentive is given to the producers of heat from sources other than fossil fuels in the form of a payment of a penny for every kW produced or replaced. We need to look seriously at a renewable heat incentive scheme because the initial cost of producing renewable energies is quite high and that cost is often subsidised within a scheme such as the one in the UK.

We lost an opportunity in the past to look at district heating schemes. A particularly good scheme exists in Tralee, where locally produced forestry is woodchipped down and heats an awful lot of houses for a fraction of the price of using fossil fuels. With fossil fuels having dropped in price there is a tendency to be lax but we should use this as an opportunity to progress all these avenues. If we are to reduce our carbon emissions it must take place across all sectors.

There is a long lead-in time so it is important we think about this properly. In agriculture there is huge potential as 60% of greenhouse gas emissions in tillage come from artificial fertilisers. We are very used to using them and we know what they do but we need to start embracing the use of sludges and all other such materials. We have been sidestepping the issue. We have produced enough phosphate from all the organic sludges in the country to mean we should not have to purchase artificial phosphates. We should put a system in place which is verifiable and keeps our good food image but we are not doing that.

Biogas digestion is big in Germany but we have very little here and incentives need to be put in place for people to do it. In England they have also brought in a renewable heat incentive scheme for domestic use. In my own house I run a wood gasification boiler which is incredibly efficient and has meant we have not burned oil in five years. These work particularly well in rural areas where there is plenty of timber and other items suitable for combustion. Although the SEAI brought out its scheme a number of years ago the amount of wood gasification boilers still in operation is only 30% so we have failed. I have found that the skill sets do not exist to install these boilers and keep them so we need to train people to fit them and ensure they last a lifetime.

We need to recognise our future obligations and this Bill does that. We want a low carbon climate-resilient end environmentally sustainable economy. They are lovely words but the measures have to be practical. In a week's time milk quotas will be removed and emissions from cattle are getting a lot of blame for climate change. We need to look at that and we need Teagasc to work on it. We need to put other mitigating measures in place that will allow us to expand our herd and get more production while recognising our carbon obligations.

Climate patterns are developing, and there is not a farmer in the country who needs to be reminded of that. We had a fodder crisis only a short while ago. That happened because of climate change. We saw wet weather that I hope we will not see again for a very long time. We had a winter that lasted almost 18 months. We are not getting the fine weather we once enjoyed. Even this March soil temperatures are very cold. There is virtually no spring barley set when March is normally our planting month. Nobody recognises the issue of climate change more than farmers. That is not to say that we alone in meeting our climate obligations will solve climate change - it will take every other country to get involved - but we need to recognise our obligation and do it right.

The Government needs to take ownership in this regard. I welcome the establishment of a national expert advisory council on climate change. We need agri-representation on that council, and the director of Teagasc being one of the members of it is welcome, but there is also a need for a member from the farming community to be on that board, be it from the Irish Farmers Association or wherever. I strongly urge the appointment of an active farmer to that board.

Some of the issues at meetings I have attended about which people have been most vociferous have been objections to the development of wind energy. Many people are upset about wind energy and if that is to be part of our renewable targets we need to start getting proper information and facts out to the public so that it is not just hearsay and people getting upset about issues that may not be correct. We need to very clearly address that. There have been objections not only to the development of wind energy but to the transmission of power with regard to the erection of pylons. We need to bring people with us in our consideration of these issues and we need to discuss them fairly with the people.

I welcome the presentation of an annual transition statement to Dáil Éireann and this will change as we move along. Oversight is needed. We need to make sure that with any movement in the direction of a low-carbon society we also recognise the obligations people have in order to make a living. One of the criticisms levelled at the Green Party in the past was that it came up with lovely ideas but, unfortunately, they were not practical at a farm level. We need to examine a country where such change has been introduced with the support of everybody. We are all working in the same direction but we need to make sure that such change does not impact overly on the people who have maintained this environment to a very high level to date.

I welcome this Bill and hope there will be good contributions on it. I recognise there are countries in the developing world that are still forging ahead with cold-fired power stations and their emissions are extremely high. We need to consider diplomatically discussing with those people their obligations towards climate change action worldwide. Our emphasis should be national but we should spread our knowledge in this area as we grow internationally to ensure that we have a climate that is stable for the longer period because that is what we will hand on to our children in time.

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