Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the amendment to this Bill. It is an important day and I thank Deputy Pringle, Trócaire, the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition and many of the people in the Public Gallery who we have met over recent years on this important issue. I hope this Bill will fulfil its aim, that it is strong enough and the wording is sound enough - I think it is - to ensure investment in fossil fuels by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund ends.

The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund does not have a large exposure at present to fossil fuels but some investments, such as in Dublin Waste To Energy, are not sustainable. That will need to be looked at in future and the policy addressed.

The intention of the Bill is positive and is a clear statement by the State of the direction in which we want to move. I am glad to see that there is a level of political consensus for it here in the Chamber.

When we talk about moving away from fossil fuels and reducing emissions, we must also talk about the alternatives. There is no morality involved in simply stopping investment in fossil fuel while we continue investing large amounts of money in coal to generate electricity. Where is that fuel coming from? What type of companies is it coming from? There is a carbon footprint incurred in hauling such fuel across thousands of miles. We must also consider the conditions endured by the workers who extract that fuel in places such as Colombia. It is important that we do not congratulate ourselves for doing the right thing on our little green sod. We need to look at the overall picture.

This Bill will pass today and we will have a conversation about climate change. Everyone believes in climate change, except for one or two people from Kilgarvan and one or two in the White House. The whole conversation must be followed up with action. We should not see this as a negative thing but rather as an opportunity. The smart investment and money will now move towards new, sustainable industries that will create sustainable jobs and generate sustainable power for Ireland, and hopefully much of Europe and the world. The State must build on the diverse energy sources available to Ireland in order to keep the lights on. We need to stay on track with this. We have been negligent, as myself and others have highlighted over the last seven or eight years. This is not a burden. We need to grab the opportunity it presents. Ireland has access to many forms of energy, including hydro, bio-mass and bio-gas, on which I brought forward a policy document. Sinn Féin has brought forward a document on all-Ireland energy, which was passed at a recent Ard-Fheis. We have access to solar power, which must be used. We must also focus on offshore wind and onshore wind, as well as wave and tidal energy. Those sources of power must be developed.

There is a real issue in terms of the electrification of public transport and private motor cars. The network of charging points has to be dealt with. Currently ESB provides a very limited network of charging points and has been told by the regulator that it must divest itself of that. That matter must be addressed. We have to take this seriously and there are a number of actions we can take. Before I came to the House today I attended a meeting of the new Joint Committee on Climate Action, which will seek to sort out the nuts and bolts of getting through a large amount of work in a three month period and play catch-up. It is an absolute disgrace that we are where we are, facing a huge carbon cliff that I have warned this House about several times over the past four, five, six or seven years. I warned the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Phil Hogan, about it. The cliff is now in front of us and we are not just facing fines but also shame.

The contribution we are making to climate change is clear. There have been four major weather events recently that I have never seen the like of in my lifetime. We are lobbying for this, that and the other. We have to get real and look at what is straight in front of us. The facts are that this is not helping farming, industry or anyone else. There have been two fodder crises in seven weeks, one caused by a cold spring and another at the moment because it is too hot. We have to get real about this. We have to meet our climate change targets. We are supposed to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 20% at a minimum by 2020. It is disgraceful that we will only hit 1%. We should be trying to exceed that 20%. We must up our game. No matter where one stands on the political spectrum, this cannot be deferred. Our children and grandchildren are going to face catastrophic problems unless we deal with this. The time for action is now. It cannot be put off until tomorrow or the day after. We cannot kick the can down the road. We have a responsibility here. It is great to see the people in the Public Gallery and that all parties are taking this on board. We have taken on other issues recently in this Chamber which seemed impossible to deal with in the past. Everything seems very hard, or impossible even, until it is done, as Nelson Mandela said. I firmly believe in that. Things seem impossible until they are done. When it is done we wonder what the fuss was about. We have to get on with dealing with this issue, make smart investments and make sure that money is put into the correct industries.

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