Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Since 1992, we have had so many summits, conventions, an environmental treaty, a protocol and an amendment to the protocol, and it all culminated in the Paris Agreement of 2015. What was most significant about the Paris Agreement was that more than 190 countries agreed with it. We know their objectives. On the positive side, it was the first global commitment to tackling climate change. On the negative side, it has not gone far enough to make a real difference. Some of the provisions are not legally binding. There is no provision for sanctions or enforcement and the funding commitments are nowhere near what they should be. The five-year review is too long to wait. It is disappointing, given that all the speeches in Paris were so inspirational and inspiring. We know the expression about talk being cheap. Actions have to match what was said.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is telling us if we continue as we are, 50 million more people will be at risk of hunger by 2050. The World Bank tells us that in 15 years a further 100 million people will join those already in extreme poverty. When we look at the carbon dioxide emissions in metric tonnes, we know countries such as Uganda and India are way down and Ireland is way up. The countries which make the smallest contribution to climate change are suffering the most. These countries are the most impacted by our lack of work on climate change, and they are already suffering conflict, hunger and ill health. In the so-called developed world, we pay lip-service to climate change. While we do our bit to recycle and respect the environment and nature, we must acknowledge that it is a matter of life and death for people in the developing world. We in the developed world have the power to change this for them. We played a major role in terms of the sustainable development goals. Many of those goals are dependent on our getting climate change right. There is one goal specifically on climate action.

Ireland's reputation for development and untied aid is being undermined due to our lack of commitment and work on climate change. While the national policy reads extremely well on this and on what we are supporting, it is aspirational. Although it states that by 2050 we will have a climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy, the actions do not match it. One of the glaring failures is in the emissions gap. Ireland's emissions are 6.6% above 1990 levels and emissions increased by 3.7% in 2015. How will we close the gap, and where will we be by 2020 and 2030?

The EPA tells us our current plans and policies will not bring Ireland in line with the 2020 targets. Apart from the impact on the environment, it will also cost Ireland financially. Yet this area will create employment. We have already discussed the fact that we must withdraw our investments from the fossil fuel industry, given that it is a major factor in climate change. The ISIF is investing in fossil fuel companies overseas, such as US coal companies, coal powered generation stations in Europe and oil pipelines. In a way, we are subsidising climate change. The call is to be in renewable energy and it is regrettable that we depend on fossil fuels for our energy needs.

The campaign, Stop Climate Chaos, has specific, practical suggestions, many of which are about community-led projects such as solar electricity, investing in ways of harnessing wave technology, ocean energy, rain water harvesting, and optimising the availability of waste for energy production, which I discussed in a parliamentary question here. Although wind energy is controversial, it has worked very well in two places where people generate electricity and get it to the national grid. It is community-owned and came through real community leadership, participation and planning, which is very different from what happened in the Corrib gas field.

A couple of years ago, I was at the Mary Robinson Foundation conference on climate change in Dublin Castle. I listened to farmers and fishermen from all over the world - Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific - talk about the reality of their lives, their vulnerability and the threats to their way of life and their ability to feed themselves due to policies in the developed world. It is the so-called developed world. Real, sustainable development would not do this in a truly developed world. At the more recent conference of the foundation, Mary Robinson gave good examples of where developing countries such as Fiji, Ethiopia, Costa Rica and Vietnam were doing nearly more than we are.

Sometimes, one has to grasp the nettle that is there, not skirt around it. We have been skirting around this issue too much.

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