Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In all seriousness, while it is not quite praying, it is the Government getting down on its knees and beseeching Europe to give us special opt-outs for the beef sector. That is not acceptable when we have the UN Meteorological Organization stating in the last week we have passed another serious, worrying and dangerous milestone in terms of climate change in that, as was well trumpeted in the media, the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has now gone 44% above the levels of the industrial revolution and is the highest concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere ever. Of course, carbon dioxide is the most guilty greenhouse gas in regard to climate change.

It is a very serious matter and our stance is essentially to push the narrow, short-term interests of a particular sector of the Irish economy. I want to elaborate this point. By that, I do not mean ordinary farmers or rural Ireland; I mean the big ranchers. These are the people who contribute to the stunning fact outlined in the CSO report on the distribution of wealth and assets, which showed that the top 10% of the Irish population own 90% of the land. This is incredible concentration. I have not made the comparison, although I intend to at some point, as to whether that is a higher concentration of land ownership than we had under the British landlords and the aristocracy. I suspect it might be. It is an incredible fact.

We are not going to deal with climate change while that remains the case. There is no doubt the big ranchers, big beef exporters and so on account for a fairly heavy proportion of that quite obscene concentration in land ownership. Successive Governments have essentially been hostage to these interests and consequently do not want to do anything that might infringe on those interests. The Taoiseach was very explicit about that and about where his priorities and allegiances lie, and to hell with the environment and the rest of it because of those allegiances.

In the first instance, there has to be a radical break from that sort of thinking or we are going to suffer. It is not just the planet but also future generations, who are the most important group. To sell out future generations, to sell out our children and grandchildren, because of narrow, short-term interests and the profits of a small minority, is unacceptable and retrograde. Even as we speak, this is impacting on us. The serious flooding has done immense damage to small farmers and others primarily in rural Ireland, although it has affected urban areas as well. It has cost us a fortune. It has been a disaster and is almost certainly going to recur. This is the real impact of climate change and Ireland, according to some reports which I have quoted before, is the most susceptible country in all of Europe to this sort of environmental catastrophe and the damage flooding can potentially do. It is already affecting us and costing us a fortune, and it will cost us a fortune into the future. We have to act urgently but we are not doing so.

As my speaking time is running out, I wish to deal quickly with what has to happen. I did not hear the Minister's comments on the money. Oisín Coghlan makes the point that the €175 million mentioned by the Taoiseach at the end of last year was just recycled money and there was no serious commitment to extra money for climate change action. Perhaps the Minister can tell us whether there is any serious increase in investment in a number of areas where serious investment is needed to deal with climate change. Let me flag a few of the key issues. We need a huge increase in investment in public transport. That means cheaper fares and more subsidies for public transport, yet we are moving in the opposite direction by cutting subsidies and increasing fares. There has to be dramatic and radical action on this issue.

In the area of forestry, which is potentially a win-win in terms of employment, jobs and climate change, we are failing disastrously, evenvis-à-visour European partners. We have the best conditions for growing trees in all of Europe but the lowest level of forest cover. While I do not have time to elaborate, the Woodland League tells me that due to the market-led approach to forestry, farmers who were growing trees are cutting them down too early because the grants run out too early and because their approach to forestry is dictated by the market. They sell when the price is high rather than leaving the forests for a long time, which means deforestation is taking place. Incredibly, due to state aid rules, Coillte, the State forest company, is prohibited from engaging in afforestation. In addition, we continue to stick with the monocultural model, which is the least effective in terms of climate change, flood mitigation and so on.

With regard to insulation, we need a huge, State-led investment in the whole area of retrofitting and insulation, which would have a major impact. There are other areas I do not have time to deal with. Overall, are we are getting serious or we just doing the special pleading and the rhetoric?

See this speech in context