Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the opportunity, on behalf of Fianna Fáil, to support the position advanced by the Minister and the Government. We will be supporting the passage of the motion before the House. I take on board the Minister's assertion that this is an important agreement. We have seen agreements reached between member states, especially to achieve stability in economic matters, and it is often the case that when a particular point is reached and one of the larger countries has failed to achieve its targets, the targets are changed. I hope the commitment shown by the Minister to ensuring Ireland will be in a position to reach its targets will be accepted by other countries, particularly the larger ones and those that have a much more negative impact on the environment. It will be incumbent on Ireland, as a nation and through each Department, to begin a process of identifying the strategies needed to achieve the targets set. Action plans will have to be put in place, of which timelines will have to be part. There is no point in allowing matters to drift towards 2030; there will have to be yearly targets. While this does not form part of the overall agreement, it will fall to the Minister to set the yearly targets in order that they will be clear to everybody, rather than attempting to do it closer to the end, which has very much been the way governments around the world have dealt with the issue.

Formal ratification of the Paris Agreement on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is very important and to be welcomed. The emissions reduction targets agreed at the landmark COP21 Paris climate conference present huge opportunities, as well as huge challenges, for Ireland. Ireland's targets should be consistent with those of the European Union. We have consistently supported the international process under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, but a new national priority in respect of carbon transmissions represents a major shift in approach to climate change policy. While they are important indicators of progress, we must also have a longer term and wider vision for creating a prosperous and sustainable Ireland.

Fianna Fáil has a strong record in introducing progressive measures to tackle climate change which is perhaps the single greatest threat to our children's and grandchildren’s future. We are committed to an ambitious environmental programme that will include tackling climate change. We previously published the Climate Change Response Bill 2010 on 23 December 2010 which passed First Stage in the Seanad before the Dáil was dissolved. By contrast, the previous Government repeatedly ducked and dived in tackling climate change. Its policies lacked strategic vision and fundamentally failed to progress the decarbonisation of the economy. I hope the new Government will not follow this path. It is clear from what the Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, has said and discussions I have had with him that he is absolutely committed to making this change. We all have a responsibility, including those of us who represent rural or agricultural communities, to address the serious issues facing us, to which there are solutions. Solutions can be found to address them.

Fine Gael's and the Labour Party’s Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 in the last Dáil marked a serious retreat from the 2010 legislation published by the previous Fianna Fáil-led Government. Instead of setting clear targets, it had vague aspirations. Climate change poses a serious threat to this island nation across a broad range of areas, from agriculture to infrastructure and massive coastal erosion. Alarmingly, under the Government, this will be the second last EU country to ratify the hugely significant COP21 agreement that was brokered in Paris in December 2015 and under which 195 countries agreed to restrict the increase in global average temperatures to less than two degrees above pre-industrial levels. The agreement will enter into force on 4 November, ahead of the next conference of the parties, or COP22, which is to be held in Marrakesh.

In July the European Commission published draft emission targets to match the ambitions of COP21 with legally binding emissions reduction targets for non-emissions trading scheme, ETS, sectors which include agriculture and transport and encompass waste and residential emissions.

The EU aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% on 1990 levels by 2030. Government has said that the analysis is ongoing to assess the full implications of these for Ireland. That analysis needs to come to a speedy conclusion and, from that analysis, we then need to see the plans in place with yearly milestones clearly identified so that we do not allow a situation to evolve and develop where we are working towards targets without really knowing where we are at until it is too late and then find ourselves having to move the targets to avoid penalties. Ireland has had much work to do considering the EU 2020 target for Ireland was to reduce emissions by 20%. The EPA has estimated that Ireland will reduce its non-ETS emissions by between 9% and 14% below 2005 levels by 2020, which is significantly below our 2020 reduction target of 20%.

It is imperative that the Government negotiates a deal for Ireland that maintains a high level of ambition, is fair and cost-effective and can be implemented from a technical perspective in attaining overall EU 2030 emission targets. The final text regarding such will have to be agreed with the European Parliament and the European Council of Ministers, while binding EU 2030 emission targets to be distributed within the Union will have, as I stated, serious implications for Ireland.

Under the Commission’s proposals, Ireland would have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. This draft target allocated to Ireland, including those flexibilities, represents a significant challenge to all sectors of the economy. The sooner we have a plan in place the sooner we can address these challenges and the better the outcome. The proposal also includes flexibilities related to the transfer of ETS allowances and the inclusion of land use, land use change and forestry credits. The inclusion of these flexibilities in the draft proposal may ultimately reduce Ireland’s non-ETS 2030 target to just a little over 20%.

The Government must outline to the Dáil as soon as possible all the costs and requirements for energy, transport and agriculture, which are the three main sectors outside the emissions trading system. Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions profile is unique within Europe, being heavily weighted towards agriculture due to the lack of heavy industry within our overall economy. It is important to stress that, since 1990, agricultural emissions have reduced by close to 10%, while other areas such as transport have increased emissions by over 120%.

During the EU negotiations, it is essential that Ireland gets a fair deal in negotiations over the technical details associated with greenhouse gas, GHG, reduction targets and their measurement. Ireland needs to push for land use, land use change and forestry to be recognised as a major contribution to GHG target measurement. The inclusion of land use, land use change and forestry within the scope of the draft EU proposals are a welcome development and represent a sensible approach, which broadens the tools available for Ireland to reduce GHG emissions.

There are also huge opportunities for Ireland to achieve what can be considered a win-win outcome in meeting our reduction targets. For example, only 11% of our land is forested compared to 33% across the EU and afforestation has a high potential for helping us meet our emission targets. This places a responsibility on the Government to encourage to a greater extent the use of land that is currently not being actively farmed. Some of it is difficult to farm because it is commonage. There needs to be a proactive approach by the State in attempting to get much of that land under forestry. It will have an economic benefit to the State at a later stage anyway, as well as helping us meet our targets. Even the forests planted since 1990 absorb a massive 18% of Irish agriculture’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, economic returns from forestry are strongly competitive compared to other land uses and could pay a high dividend in terms of regional development and employment.

Ireland’s target under the EU renewable energy supply directive is to ensure that 10% of its transport energy comes from renewable sources by 2020. Reducing the carbon emissions associated with transport is also key to meeting Ireland’s GHG reduction targets. Transport will likely account for 30% of Ireland’s non-ETS emissions in 2020. The target allows the inclusion of transport energy supplied from liquid biofuels, biogas and renewable electricity resources. I would argue, however, that some of the targets set by the previous Government, which pursued a grant model to encourage electric vehicle usage, have not worked. The Minister has spoken about the proposals himself. We really have to get real about incentivising the use of electric vehicles as a way of assisting in the reduction of the emissions from the transport sector. We will have to be brave and bold and will have to deploy the State's resources in a manner that will encourage people to use these vehicles. The battery life will not be a problem for those who will just do 20 or 30 miles a day. There is absolutely no reason for them to be stuck in traffic burning fuel and emitting the pollutants we need to address.

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