Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is clear from the most recent EPA figures that there has almost been zero movement on the issue of climate action in Ireland and that the policies being lauded as achieving progress are actually making things worse. Contrary to the views of the chief scientific adviser, business as usual cannot continue if we want to tackle global warming. There is no technological fix.

Endless and exponential growth is incompatible with the survival of the human species. Natural gas is not a bridge fuel to a cleaner future. The sustainable expansion of the dairy herd is impossible. Burning wood for energy is not carbon neutral. Rail, not roads, are the future of clean transport. Electric cars are not the solution as long as they primarily run on oil, gas, peat and coal. The concept of biogas is a laughing stock among the scientific community. It was difficult to listen to Mary Robinson go unchallenged on "Morning Ireland" as she towed the Government line on the issue of climate change.

Agriculture is so bad that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been massaging the numbers. In June 2018, he tried to make out the improved efficiency in the dairy sector meant even though the herd increased by 22% between 2012 and 2016, emissions had increased by only 8%. In reality, total agricultural emissions were up by 8% in this period and dairy emissions were up by 24%. It means the millions we spend on efficiency and research in the dairy sector have produced no improvements since 2009. Beef and dairy are the most polluting and water intensive protein sources on the planet. They promote food insecurity. Our agricultural emissions are rising. We grow very few vegetables and little organic food. Our water and rivers are polluted. The fish, bees and insects are dying and the Government is doing very little to address these issues. Even Bord Bia's Origin Green programme is packed full of some of the worst polluters in the country.

Transport saw a 2.4% increase in 2017 after four successive years of increases. There are no hybrid or electric buses in Ireland and we are about to see almost 200 more filthy diesel buses come on the scene. The Government has been talking about using compressed natural gas in trucks and buses, shutting down rail lines and building more roads for cars. The housing crisis is making people commute from further and further away. For many the cost, dearth of services and lack of frequency of services makes driving the only choice. We are well behind on adopting electric cars. However, until we further decarbonise our electricity, it is not the worst of our problems. Moneypoint has been shut down for over two months now, supplying only 3% of the island's electricity through the burning of gas. Seeing that we are getting by just fine without burning coal, why are we considering firing up the turbines again for another six years? The plan to convert our peat and coal plants to burn woody biomass and gas is a disaster for global warming. Woody biomass is not carbon neutral. It is a highly inefficient mode of power generation that releases stored carbon into the atmosphere. Even under the most well managed forestry regime, it will not be recaptured for at least 50 years. We do not have 50 years; we have 12. All around Europe new gas terminals are being built by US companies and financed by the EU. The Government is spinning the fraudulent nonsense that gas is a transition fuel to renewable gas. The US national security adviser John Bolton, is screaming that the EU has to stop buying evil Russian gas and should be buying it from saintly Israel and the US in the interest of global freedom and so-called democracy. Royal Dutch Shell invented the idea of gas as a bridge fuel in 2001. Nearly 20 years later we are saying the same thing while globally gas production is sky-rocketing. Natural gas is a filthy fossil fuel. Many scientific studies have shown that over its life cycle shale gas is as detrimental to global warming as coal. This is why we are building infrastructure and planning to put commercial vehicles on our power plants.

The Government is working for the extraction industry, which is destroying the planet, and not for the people who are suffering as a result. It is not just perpetuating an injustice on the Irish who will suffer tomorrow as a result of this inaction. The global south, which pollutes the least, is suffering right now from starvation, drought, extreme weather events, forced migration and debt. What is worse, our tax haven status allows us to rob the global south twice. In 2012, the last year we have figures for, $2 trillion flowed into developing countries from the global north in aid, investment and loans. The same year, $5 trillion flowed from the south to the north. The worst problems were illicit tax flows to tax havens in countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg. I am not shooting the Minister. He just got the job. It will be great if he will be able to make a difference. I feel sorry for the Minister having to listen to the likes of Labour Party Deputies who did nothing for five years talking about climate change now. I wish the Minister well. I respect him but he has a big job on his hands.

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