Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Minister to look at this again.

The Minister cited the expense of subsidising solar power. We recognise technology is advancing, but we ask the Minister to address this issue. If we are serious about meeting our renewable energy targets we must take brave and radical action.

Sinn Féin believes the best way to develop renewable energy is in conjunction with local communities. We are fortunate to have good strong semi-State companies and we must use them. The Government must provide supports for community energy projects. Templederry community wind farm in Tipperary, which I visited during the summer, is a good example. I met people in the local community. It is an excellent initiative and they are to be commended for it. The Government and Opposition parties need to encourage more of this. Existing State companies such as Bord na Móna, Coillte and the ESB must also take a serious role in renewable energy production. The future of energy generation will not be a handful of large generation plants but hundreds, or even thousands, of smaller generation projects. Recently I met people from ESB management, and it was a good meeting, but I did not get sense from them they have got this point. Microgeneration is an area the Government has yet to take seriously and get up and running. Microgeneration not only encourages people to become energy conscious, it also aids people to reduce their energy costs. In other countries it is done to great lengths by households.

There is an untapped potential to develop our green economy. This is the big step change we must make. Things cannot continue as they are. We must change how we do things economically. Industry must change and every one of us must change. Projects such as solar installation and energy efficient upgrades of homes have the potential to create thousands of jobs. I welcome the progress made to date on retrofitting homes. I have seen first hand examples of this, and Sinn Féin welcomes it. Hundreds of thousands of households still have no insulation. I made this point to the Minister's two predecessors but I did not make any headway with it. Many houses built in the 2000s and the 1990s which already had insulation have been upgraded, and I am not arguing against this. They were brought up to 2008 and 2009 levels. We have houses built in the 1930s and 1940s which have not been touched, and we need to get to grips with this. We need a proper Government focus. This has the potential to create jobs and save energy, along with microgeneration projects which can also create jobs also and secure our energy supply for the future and reduce energy imports. It is a win win situation.

When a ship or even a small rowing boat is going in the wrong direction, when we try to pull it around it can be difficult to get it going in the opposite direction. I realise this is where we are at. It will not be an easy job and there will be resistance, but if we do not do it we will face economic and environmental catastrophe and financial bills. The potential consequences for Ireland not meeting its targets could be severe. It has been estimated that Ireland could be hit with a bill of up to €610 million for breaching our 2020 renewable energy and emissions targets. We are already expected to miss our targets to reduce carbon emissions by 20%. As I stated, emissions in 2015 were 3.7% higher than those in 2014, indicating the state of the economy has been dictating the changes. The target is part of an overall commitment by the EU to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% of 1990 levels by the end of the decade and we should be ambitious. I know we are trying to catch up, but bold action is needed. Similar inaction on our 2030 targets could result in fines of up to €5 billion. In an economically uncertain post-Brexit future, and the Trump situation, with narrowing fiscal space, this would have devastating consequences for our economic stability.

Sinn Féin strongly believes that addressing climate change has to prioritise citizens' fundamental rights and those of future generations. We already see effects in coastal counties and the River Shannon basin. This affects all of society, including agriculture. It will affect everyone. We have a responsibility and we ask the Minister to put his foot on the pedal, pardon the pun, and drive on this process. We certainly want to be ambitious about this. The only criticism we have to date is that the talk we have done has not been matched by action. We must now change this. It is action time.

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