Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I probably will not use all of my ten minutes. I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on what is an extremely important and divisive issue. We have seen from earlier contributions in the Chamber that some people do not believe in the existence of climate change or the effects it will have on us. It is important because as our population grows and the world's population increases we are seeing the effects of greenhouse gas emissions. As a global community, there is and should be an onus on us to try to reduce our carbon footprint and think about those who are coming after us, the next generation, our own children and their children after that. It becomes a decisive issue when we start talking about how we tackle this problem, where we tackle it, when we start tackling it and what technology we use to do it. We all saw the devastation over Christmas when families were flooded out of their homes and people's livelihoods and farms were under water for weeks. We saw this not only in Ireland but across the UK and further afield. We cannot deny that as the population increases it means further development on our land, which means further gas emissions which leads to where we are today. The saying goes in Ireland, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute; it will change." This month alone we have had snow, rain, sleet and sub-zero conditions, so things are certainly changing, but not for the good.

How do we tackle this problem? There are a million and one different ways and a lot of it has been touched on. For me, there are two massive issues that we need to deal with. The first is that we need to move beyond the energy sector. There needs to be a cross-departmental approach to this. Moving forward, we are looking at transport, agriculture, industry as a whole, waste management and education, and as individuals we are looking at what we do in our own homes. We need a climate goal that transcends the different sectors and Departments. In order to do that, we need Departments to work with each other on this. Unfortunately, sometimes that is not the easiest thing to do. In the past six years, having worked in Leinster House and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and having become a Deputy, I have seen that Departments have their own interests to protect and it does not always mean that we work together for the better. The most recent example is the argument over wind energy guidelines. It is very apt for what we are talking about today. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government wanted to publish new guidelines that its experts put together with its own views, those of others and those of thousands of people throughout Ireland who put together their own submissions. The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources did not agree with the proposals of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government because of its own expert views. Where has that left us? It has left us with a stalemate and in a situation where people do not trust us and believe what we are doing. This leads on to the biggest problem that we face when it comes to addressing the problem of climate change, which is public perception, public acceptance and, above all, consultation with the public on the energy sector. I do not think green energy will succeed unless we bring communities with us. At the moment, for a lot of people the perception is that when it comes to the larger corporations, businesses and even the semi-state bodies, they can and will do whatever it takes to build their wind farms, solar farms or pylons without the proper consultation and guidelines or without applying the most up-to-date technology. It is our own fault as well as the fault of previous Governments. In order for us to be realistic in setting and reaching targets, we first need to be realistic in how we work for and engage with communities on this issue. It needs to start from the top. We cannot shove this down people's throats because there is a timescale.

We need to bring people along with us on what is such an important issue. If we do not, we will have failed before we even start. We have failed the people whose houses were flooded at Christmas and we will fail those whose houses will inevitably be flooded in the future.

The next Government needs to publish new wind energy guidelines that work with communities and bring them on board. We need to publish more extensive guidelines on solar energy. We also need to ensure that the most up-to-date and efficient technology is used not just by the energy sector but by all our communities. We need to work together on this.

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