Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to say that Fianna Fáil will be supporting this Bill, as we recognise the importance of making a strong shift away from our reliance on fossil fuels to cleaner, greener forms of energy. The Bill is part of a global campaign to highlight the need to reduce fossil fuel dependence to prevent dangerous temperature increases. The reality is that there is a climate change crisis unfolding around the globe and Fianna Fáil recognises that we must take decisive action to address it. If we do not, the pressures that will be placed on every society around the world will be simply unprecedented.

Unfortunately, many of these threats are already in motion. The year 2016 was the hottest on record, with the average temperature almost 1° Celsius higher than the 20th century average. Given that most of us would probably like Ireland to be at least 2° Celsius warmer year round, that temperature increase might not sound like much but we need to remember that during the Ice Age, when places like Boston were under a mile of ice, the average temperature was only 4° Celsius lower than it is now.

Too many countries are already feeling the effects of this temperature change and the associated climatic shifts. Public health experts have warned that the ongoing water shortages in Cape Town, a city with 4 million inhabitants, will likely result in the outbreak of life-threatening illness.

Spain and Portugal are still grappling with one of the worst drought seasons either nation has ever faced. To look away and continue with business as usual would be one of the greatest acts of moral negligence we could commit. We need only look around our own country to recognise the very significant change in weather patterns in recent years. We see the extreme flood events that were characterised a number of years ago as one-in-100-year events; they are now happening every second or third year. This should be a wake-up call to all of us that patterns are changing and having a very dramatical impact on us.

Addressing this issue begins with us having a serious discussions about our fundamental reliance on fossil fuels. Between 1970 and 2010, fossil fuel combustion produced about 78% of the carbon emissions produced worldwide. The need to reduce drastically the amount of fossil fuels we burn is obvious to most people; how to do so, when the global economy has been largely built upon the combustion of various fossil fuels, is much less obvious. Looking closer at Ireland's contribution to global warming, we see that in 2016 fossil fuels accounted for over 91% of our energy use. Given the amount of talk we hear in this Chamber about clean energy technology and wind turbines, many people probably think we source about half, or even more, of our energy from renewable energy sources. Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. I commend the Bill on forcing us all to acknowledge this and to have an important discussion about our plans for Ireland into the future, and I compliment Deputy Bríd Smith on her foresight in introducing the Bill at this time.

My party acknowledges that this is a complex conversation. One does not go from 91% reliance on fossil fuels to no dependence on fossil fuels overnight. This is not simply a supply-side problem. It would be hypocritical of me to pretend that by shutting down Irish production we will created a carbon-neutral country overnight. Whether it comes from the Corrib gas field or the tar sands in Alberta, western Canada, we will still need fossil fuels to put in our cars, to power our farms and factories and to heat our homes. Given the considerable environmental impacts and the nature of many of the alternatives, it makes no environmental sense for relatively clean natural gas to be edged out by much dirtier alternatives. There is therefore a job of work to do to reduce our demand for and use of gas and oil.

Furthermore, consideration is not given in the Bill to its implications for the considerable number of exploration licences and leases that are already in place, whereby companies have already invested considerable resources in exploring Ireland's deposits and are in the process of applying for extraction licences. By banning all extraction licences, the Bill would effectively end this process. There would be considerable legal issues with radically changing the nature of Ireland's licensing regime for these companies and operations that are already in the system. This would need to be addressed and teased out on Committee Stage, and there is an opportunity for all of us to work constructively in that vein. This is why I am anxious that the Bill pass to Committee Stage. I am not blinded at all by my desire to see a cleaner environment, but we must recognise the complexities of the issues that must be addressed thereafter. My core point here is that the Bill needs to be seen as one piece of a much larger discussion about Ireland's need to decarbonise and become cleaner right the way from supply to demand and end use. The Government is completely shying away from this conversation, and this is reflected in Ireland's current climate change policies.

While in government, Fianna Fáil published and introduced, together with the Green Party, the Climate Change Response Bill 2010. This Bill, which was one of the first of its kind in the world, set out a comprehensive framework for Ireland's journey to near carbon neutrality by 2050. Among other provisions, it set out annual targets for Ireland to meet in our journey towards much lower emissions levels, something that would have given us a clear vision of where we needed to go. One does not build a house without breaking it into smaller steps, and one certainly does not overcome one of the biggest technological and economic challenges in the history of the State without breaking it down either.

When Fine Gael and Labour subsequently entered power, the Bill was ignored for five valuable years during which we could have reduced emissions. When they finally introduced their version of the Bill, it fell far short of our original proposal. Suddenly there was no specific goal for 2050, and gone were the annual targets to guide us along our way to a low-carbon economy. In short, between 2010 and 2015, all the binding targets that were there had been extracted. While the Government did establish the expert advisory council, it has completely ignored its advice. When the chair of the council, Professor John FitzGerald, one of the most esteemed climate experts in the world, categorically stated that the Government's policies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions would be insufficient to meet Ireland's short and long-term goals, his advice was not heeded. Professor FitzGerald was also the fore in identifying Ireland as a laggard and not as the leader that some would try to present us.

If the Government will not take action, the rest of us must forge ahead without it. My party is working on our own climate change proposals which we will bring forward later this year. We will focus on the big changes that are needed to create a long-term sustainable future for Ireland, one in which our economy does not rely on dirty fossil fuels and our children can enjoy clean air and an unspoiled countryside. This is an opportunity for Ireland to take advantage of the next energy revolution, particularly in respect of green technologies. Whereas we lacked the natural resources to be a major player in the fossil fuel industry, Ireland has the potential to become a serious hub for the production of clean energy technology. With 3,171 km of coastline, significant tidal activity and a temperate climate, Ireland is well-suited to most of the major green energy technologies out there. What is more, our highly skilled workforce is ready and able to take on the tricky business of engineering these new technologies. The SEAI, for example, has estimated that on and offshore wind energy generation could create 20,000 jobs by 2040 in Ireland. This is the part of the story on which we need to focus. How do we maximise the benefits of the next energy revolution for our nation and its citizens?

I thank Deputy Smith for giving us an opportunity to address this question. While I may not agree with all she has to say about climate change, or indeed other topics, I welcome this chance to exchange views on what will be a defining issue for our generation. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, which is exactly what Deputy Smith's Bill has done for us today.

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