Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Fine. As I mentioned before, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform estimates that the cost to the Exchequer to purchase compliance will be billions of euro by 2030, in a business as usual scenario. The point of these amendments is to put into law a system of accounting that will take into account the human and financial cost of action versus inaction on climate change. This was apparently not done when the legislation was being drafted.

According to the European Commission, early action on climate change will save lives and money. The EU-wide cost of not adapting to climate change could reach at least €100 billion per year by 2020, rising to €250 billion a year by 2050.

Elaborating on the internationally accepted position that climate change poses a threat so serious that it could reverse the last 50 years of progress in global health and development, the Commission has said that climate action would bring benefits of €38 billion a year in 2050 through reduced mortality caused by air pollution. The World Health Organization has estimated that, considering only a few of the associated health risks and assuming continued progress in economic growth and health protection, climate change would still be likely to cause about 250,000 additional deaths per year by the 2030s. A recent report by researchers at the International Monetary Fund identifies the omission of health damages from polluting fuels as the largest of the subsidies provided to global energy production and use, which will total US$5.3 trillion in 2015, which is more than the total health expenditure of all the world's governments. How frightening is that.

What is clear is that climate change and its causes are the greatest risks facing human health. The purpose of the first amendment is to ensure that when making a climate change mitigation plan, the Government takes into account the dangers to the health of the people of Ireland posed by climate change and the associated costs to the health system. It is obvious that fast and meaningful action on climate change will have economic benefits for Ireland but, more importantly, it will mean the Government cares about the well-being of people. Failure to commit to targets and a fast-track of the mitigation plan will demonstrate that the opposite is the case.

As I have outlined, there is a wealth of peer-reviewed research showing that climate change will result in astronomical costs to governments the world over. There is also a long series of very coherent arguments from scientists, economists and international bodies that highlight the immense savings that will accrue from co-ordinated, effective and sustained commitment to ambitious emissions reductions targets. In light of these facts, a situation where the Minister refuses to entertain amendments that would commit us to national emissions targets on the basis that to do so would incur a potential cost to the Exchequer is a bit mind-boggling. This stance by the Minister is one of the starkest examples of the Government sticking its head in the sand on an issue. This amendment would serve to at least remind the Government of the insanity of policy that falls short of being serious about tackling climate change.

A refusal to engage in joined-up thinking in here can be really frightening at times. People who know more about this than we do are making it very clear that if we make long-term decisions rather than ones which go from election to election, we would address this, aside from showing concern for the future of the planet and any concern we might show for our children and their children. If there is one thing that unites the 166 Deputies in here, it is that we all care about our offspring. However, we are turning a blind eye to the problems facing our offspring and their offspring by refusing to do anything about it now.

It reminds me of the lack of joined-up thinking I have addressed a few times in here relating to the area of sport and health. In 2013, alcohol abuse cost the State €3.5 billion, tobacco abuse cost it €1.3 billion and obesity cost it €1.1 billion but the State gave sport €90 million for the year. Sport more than anything else challenges all these things and it would reduce abuses but we do not invest enough in all sports to do this. This is about joined-up thinking and longer-term planning. We would not see the results of it before the next election but we would see them in time and our children would certainly be beneficiaries of it, as would their children. It is a pity that so much of politics is dictated by "short termism". So much of business is now dictated by short-termism, particularly big business where it is more about shares, dividends and quick profits. It is becoming very problematic for the world. How we deal with climate change is another example of it.

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