Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The climate change challenge is global and, perhaps because we are a small island surrounded by water, we might think that other nations with larger populations and higher emissions should take the lead. It is true that they should take the lead but as a small island country, we should not be behind the door in calling on them to reduce carbon emissions. That does not mean that we are let off the hook just because we are small country with a small population. We also have significant responsibilities because we have had the benefits of being part of a developed country and we have been emitting carbon and methane for a number of decades.

The term "climate change" came into my consciousness 25 or 30 years ago, when significant concerns were raised by scientists who predicted that our climate would change, with increasing desertification and much more rainfall and precipitation. As the predictions were for 25 or 30 years down the line, none of us thought too much about it. I certainly did not, and although I kept an eye on things, I was not in a position to think much about it. Many of our citizen felt similarly and looked to us to provide political leadership on long-term planning.

We are now at the stage where climate mitigation and adaptation is the context in which we must place all public policy. All of our future actions will be judged on the decisions we make on this issue but we must be united in this effort. We are the transition generation and I think of my children and future generations, who will look back at us and ask what we did about this. As a high emitter, we must not forget the developing countries who can point out how we have benefitted and ask if we will deprive them of the opportunity to improve their economic growth, society and quality of life. Are we asking them to do the same? We must always remember this, as it will be women and children in those developing countries who will be affected most.

There are a number of actions to take. We are looking at 30 years to act but we should really focus on the next ten to 15 years. We should not be shy about aiming for 100% decarbonisation and being fully renewable by 2050. We can do that but we must be united in doing so. As I noted, we are an island nation and it is up to us to put this on our own agenda and that of global high emitters. There are a number of actions to take but we must put our low carbon transition and mitigation plan in place as soon as the new Government is formed. We must work on that first statutory low carbon plan up to 2050, with an obligation on all of us to come to terms with it.

I very much welcome that we were present at COP21 and we ratified the Paris agreement last week. I was delighted to see the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, representing us. We have a large job to do with regard to planning, transport, and digital and built infrastructure. Connecting with our people to discuss the issue and emphasise its importance will be crucial. I am in favour of establishing a citizens' convention solely to consider climate action and post-carbon Ireland. We must decide on how to engage meaningfully with our citizens. It seems that Met Éireann is underutilised in this way. It is beamed into everybody's house every day and surely there must be some mechanism by which it could contextualise climate change in an easy to understand manner. That could be an unrivalled opportunity for us.

We must work more within schools. There are some fabulous initiatives, including the Power of One and the green schools initiative. By the time our young people get to second level, we have lost them a little and we need to develop programmes where we can continue to keep climate change to the fore, particularly the types of changes that society will have to make. In our third level institutions, where people study social policy, climate change could become part of the degrees. We need to lead the way in terms of Government and public procurement in order that there are stringent efficiency standards applied across all sectors. We will be looking at electricity generation, the built environment, transport and agriculture, which have plenty of challenges. I know we can meet them.

We can consider the transport sector. If we are trying to get people out of their cars and into public transport, it must be affordable and attractive to people. We must look at that. We must consider how to incentivise people to change from petrol and diesel to hybrid and electric cars. Charging points should be installed at every new development, whether it is a private house or apartment development. Even if the property is being refurbished, surely it should be possible to do this. If we can do this, people will transition when they see an opportunity. There are some really innovative ideas. For example, we could allow people travelling in an electric car to use a bus lane, as that would certainly encourage people to transition to such transport. We will have to examine the use of all the public sector vehicles and whether they should be electrified or run on biofuels. Much needs to be done and we need to lead the way on it.

With respect to buildings, a home retrofitting programme would need to be established. Residents of homes with south or west-facing roofs should be encouraged to put up solar panels. Local authorities also have much to do, including future-proofing homes to passive home standard. Offaly County Council led the way before Christmas with a development in Banagher of social housing of a passive standard. It is a wonderful example and I would love to see it repeated throughout the country.

Offaly has weathered the difficulties that communities were experiencing with private developers potentially seeking planning permission for developments relating to energy generation. There were examples of how it should not be done, as the communities were not engaged. Having a recommendation that communities be engaged with is insufficient as it should be mandatory to do so. Anybody developing renewable energy infrastructure should connect and engage with communities in a meaningful way and offer them incentives. What is wrong with offering somebody free electricity if they are living in close proximity to a wind farm development? What is wrong with offering them an opportunity to get a share in the profits? I do not see anything wrong with that and it would certainly be beneficial and help people to come to terms with such development. There should also be opportunities for engaging citizens who want to become their own energy communities. For example, in Templederry a local community developed its own wind farm.

They are connected to the grid and they are generating electricity and reaping the rewards themselves. That is something we should also be looking at. Of course it is not for every community, but if there are communities that are motivated, they should be given every opportunity to do that. There are other opportunities in terms of biomass and biogas. Again, we need to provide adequate incentives to encourage the development of those sectors.

We have a moral obligation to consider the impact of high carbon usage on people living in the lower latitudes. There are some islands that are already impacted. I am thinking of the Marshall Islands.

I am looking at the time. I will wrap up with a quote from Richard Feynman, a theoretical physicist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He said "[f]or a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled".

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