Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin's amendment No. 4 states:

To insert the following after “29th March, 2019”:“— however, rejects the endorsement of an increase in the existing carbon tax; and

— declares a climate and ecological emergency.”

I welcome the opportunity to address this motion. Sinn Féin is fully committed to climate action. We recognise the reality that we are living in the middle of a climate crisis which will spiral out of control if we do not take immediate and radical action.

The time for talking is over. We are dedicated to taking action that is ambitious and based on a just transition towards a sustainable, green economy. No worker, family or community can be left behind. That is why Sinn Féin is calling on the Government and this House to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency. Climate action should not be viewed as a burden. We should see it as an opportunity to create a stronger, more sustainable economy for everyone. To do that, however, we have no option but to radically transform our society and economy. We have a fantastic opportunity to invest in towns and villages in rural areas which have for a very long time been neglected. We need a genuine transformation to revitalise rural communities. We can achieve that objective. What we do not want is to see a transition that places an unfair burden on working families through regressive taxation. We do not want to see a transition based on private market solutions that push thousands more families into fuel poverty. We cannot allow climate action to turn into some sort of green austerity where taxes increase and workers lose their jobs.

Sinn Féin is committed to climate action and we are willing to work with every group here on a cross-party basis, as we have done. At the Joint Committee on Climate Action we did achieve consensus on the vast majority of substantive issues behind climate change. However, we diverged when it came to agreeing to certain solutions to the problem, particularly in the areas of afforestation, power, waste, a just transition and carbon tax. My party also wants to be more ambitious in producing power from renewables. For that reason, we felt it was necessary to produce our own minority report. We believe the majority report fails to deal fully with the principles of a just transition. In our minority report we call for a just transition in line with the International Labour Organization's framework. This is essential to ensure ordinary people will not be left behind, which we have as a key recommendation. Just last week we saw Bord na Móna announce that a total of 200 workers had been made redundant this year, with 240 more to lose their jobs by the end of the year. That is having a significant effect on places in the midlands such as counties Laois and Offaly. While we all agree that we must move away from peat production, it is essential that we transition to an alternative that is environmentally sustainable and that will not drive down the standard of employment for workers. That is why Sinn Féin is proposing that we phase out peat by transitioning towards renewables such as biomass, biogas, solar and wind energy. While it is positive that some peat plants have already started converting to biomass, we have not established a native biomass industry on a scale that can create the supply chains required to support it and supply the raw material. Instead, we are up importing fuel from across the globe to power these plants. That has carbon footprint implications.

With regard to biogas, Germany has over 8,000 such plants, while England has over 600. We have a problem here with agricultural waste. We have a large agriculture sector and need to deal with this to do things more sustainably. We are repeatedly seeking derogations from the European Commission for slurry spreading instead of using biogas as a sustainable way of utilising this material to create sustainable energy. Our large agriculture sector means that we have one of the best biogas resources in the European Union, but we are not taking advantage of it. We are only starting to do so. We have one plant that is supplying gas to the town of Athy. Despite this great potential, the midlands are in danger of becoming a rust belt. We need to do this quickly. Sinn Féin is arguing that we should provide Bord na Móna with the substantial State and EU funding that it is seeking to make the transition from brown to green industries through biomass, biogas and so on. We also have potential in Ireland for wind, wave, hydro and solar energy. A recent report by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, estimates that a €1 billion euro investment by the State would lead to the creation of 11,000 net jobs in solar energy, 4,400 jobs in wind energy and over 18,000 jobs in retrofitting homes. That is a great need. We have an opportunity to enable Ireland to become secure in its energy supply, instead of importing up to €5 billion worth of fossil fuels each year and continuing to create the amount of pollution we currently create. There is great potential to move towards a green economy based on good employment and a sustainable environment. Unfortunately, the report fails in some aspects to deal fully with the ambitious just transition that we need.

Sinn Féin is clear and unambiguous that it is absolutely opposed to an increase in carbon tax. The international evidence does not show that carbon taxes have worked. Since the introduction of a carbon tax in Ireland in 2010, emissions have actually increased. Sinn Féin will not support a policy that would multiply the carbon tax by up to four times its current rate. Householders are already paying €52.67 extra in carbon taxes on a tonne of coal. That figure will increase to €208 under what is planned. There are 400,000 families across the State living in fuel poverty and any increase in carbon tax would force thousands more into fuel poverty. Heating one's home in winter time is not a luxury. We are collecting substantial amounts by way of carbon tax. Sinn Féin wants the existing carbon tax we currently bring in each year to be ring-fenced for retrofitting homes, which would help people to reduce their energy use and bills in a positive way, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Most of the homes in the greatest need of retrofitting, with the worst energy ratings, are also the lowest income households. We must get our heads around this key point. More often than not, those on the lowest incomes live in the homes with the least insulation and that are least energy efficient. They have very high energy bills. We cannot expect families and their communities to change their behaviour without giving them a viable alternative to which to transition. We cannot tell people in rural villages and towns to use their cars less when they do not have any public transport available. We cannot expect people in the city to use electric cars when we do not have the required networks to charge them. In its minority report Sinn Féin has set an ambitious target of achieving a figure of 80% for renewable energy by 2030. We believe that is achievable. It is good that the majority report includes a figure of 70%, for which we pushed, but we believe we can go 10% further. That is completely achievable and contingent on the basis that we work together to develop innovative policies. We should be ambitious and see if we can set the figure of 70% as the baseline and push it further.

My office has put forward a Bill on microgeneration, which is mainstream in Germany, Italy and many other European countries. The Bill would allow families, small businesses and communities to generate their own electricity and sell the excess to the grid. It is through these simple, straightforward ideas that we can move away from a high carbon economy. This is an issue of fairness and sustainability. That is what we must get right. We must ensure those who are the least to blame for the climate crisis are not the ones who will end up paying the highest financial cost through a new green austerity programme. The transition to a low carbon economy cannot be left to the whims of the private market; it must be led by a public vision supported by public investment. It must involve all public bodies, including local authorities, the Government and all other State agencies. That is the approach we need to take.

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