Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While Independents 4 Change will support the Bill, I also agree with Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett and support the amendments.

We will not jeopardise it, as we are getting near the end, and fair play to Deputy Tony McLoughlin and those who put enough pressure on Deputies in their areas to force the Government into this position, although it has not done a U-turn on how it feels about the environment. The performance of this and previous Governments on climate change has been pathetic and I do not see any change in mindset.

This is a good moment, but it is a drop in the ocean towards the bigger picture, while we continue to destroy the environment. This could be described as the perfect example of how the Government could not care less about climate change and the environment and the enduring duplicity of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The Department has a petroleum affairs division which grants licences for oil and gas exploration and production. Its website states:

Our role in the Petroleum Affairs Division (PAD) is to maximise the benefits to the State from exploration for and production (E&P) of indigenous oil and gas resources. In doing this we ensure that activities are conducted with due regard to their impact on the environment and other land/sea users.

A new report from the World Wildlife Fund shows that, since 1970, the number of wild animals on the planet has decreased by more than half and is expected to have decreased by two thirds by 2020. It is generally accepted that it is too late for most of the world's coral reefs. In many parts of the world rainfall patterns are changing and humans and wildlife are competing for diminishing sources of water. Oceans are undergoing acidification which is endangering plankton, the basic food for all aquatic life. Each year sees record temperatures being set, with another Irish record reportedly to be set this month.

Every child in every school that the Minister, Deputy Denis Naughten, visits knows that we must keep fossil fuels in the ground. That is the message he promotes when he meets them. At the presentation of the Young Environmentalist Awards this week, for example, he urged children to reduce their carbon footprint and told a crowd of students that they were the ones who would drive change. It is an understandable position, given that nothing is coming from the Government or the Department. The Government's inaction on climate change is nothing less than intergenerational theft, in that it is the next generation's responsibility to clean up the mess.

Last week, the Minister tweeted about the possibility of developing a gas storage facility on the Shannon Estuary to tie into gas-powered power stations. He referred to gas as an "alternative fuel". The lie being propagated by the fossil fuel industry that gas is a green or so-called alternative source of energy generation is akin to the long propaganda campaign conducted by scientists in the pay of tobacco companies who spread the lie that tobacco did not harm people's health. In fact, the very same scientists are involved in the climate change denial movement and promoting the lie that gas is greener alternative energy source. One of the main peddlers of this nonsense is ExxonMobil which withheld decades of research detailing in advance the effects of climate change and instead funded and promoted an entirely different story that contradicted its own findings through lobby groups and Bill mills such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, ALEC, and the Heartland Institute. ExxonMobil is listed in the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund's portfolio of investments. Of the 28 oil and gas exploration and drilling licences granted along Ireland's coastline last year, ExxonMobil - going 50:50 with Statoil - was granted six by a Department that absurdly includes the phrase "Climate Action and Environment" in its title.

Our amendment is a litmus test for the Government. When it discusses climate action, is it all hot air? If there is a genuine concern for the environment, wildlife and the health and safety of the people behind its support for the Bill, surely that logic applies to the extraction of oil and gas off our shores. If there was not such a legacy of bad planning and prevalence of one-off housing in the 12 counties where fracking was proposed, one wonders whether the Bill would have got this far at all. The issue affects so many people thanks to the spread of where they live.

According to Ms Naomi Klein, it is not too late to keep temperatures below levels that would save millions of lives and livelihoods. Ireland is the second worst performer in Europe when it comes to climate change action. We are busy destroying our children's futures and the lives and livelihoods of millions of people around the world and all for a quick buck. Ireland has strict child protection measures. We even have laws protecting the rights of unborn children, yet we have no legislation to stop outright the extraction of fossil fuels to protect the lives of all children now and in the future. UNICEF has warned that more severe and frequent natural disasters, food crises and changing rainfall patterns are threatening children's lives and that, by 2050, climate change could result in an additional 25 million children suffering from malnourishment.

The Bill could be undone by the CETA which will come into effect soon. God only knows what effect that will have on everything. Companies will be able to take cases against measures we introduce if they affect their profit prospects in any way. We were mad to sign up to the CETA, but that was consistent with Government policy. The same philosophy is evident across Departments. In response to our recent questions to the Ministers for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Communications, Climate Action and Environment they kept using the word "sustainable", but they would not define it for us. What does it mean to them? They invented the terms "carbon neutral" and "sustainable" and claimed that we could make money while still looking after the environment. The second part of that claim is losing out badly. There is no genuine interest in tackling climate change.

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