Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Tackling the climate disruption issue is the greatest challenge that humanity faces. It will pose major challenges, globally as well as here at home, if we fail to deliver. The sad reality is that since the economic recovery started, we have failed to break the link between carbon and growing prosperity. We have a great deal of work to do in order to catch up.

I have prepared a detailed climate action plan which will address every sector of the economy. It will look at buildings, transport, agriculture and industry. It will deliver in the area of renewable electricity, increasing our ambition to move to using 70% renewables. Previously, that ambition was to get to 55%. We will implement the changes. Like the Deputy, I believe local authorities and all public bodies will be pivotal to delivering this. It is absolutely essential that the Government and all bodies lead by example, not only in the context of their own direct carbon impact but also by motivating the many people whose lives they touch to help them make the changes that are necessary to achieve this target.

We will have a plan that respects the large level of consensus that was achieved within the Oireachtas and that will build on that foundation that has been laid by the Citizens' Assembly and the all-party Oireachtas committee. We will deliver our target of reductions in 2030 and be able to work towards net neutrality by 2050. That will be the objective.

On the issues of funding individual sectors, people must recognise that there will not be Government funding for all the change that we need to make.

If that were the case, the bill for the State would be enormous. We have to find ways of supporting, motivating and giving people incentives and access to smart finance to allow these changes to occur. Of course, the State will have a huge responsibility, and every budget of every Department will have to be shaped, just as the mandate of every public body will have to be shaped, to respect and deliver our carbon targets.

It would be a mistake, as the Deputy will know, as a former Minster Public Expenditure and Reform, to approach this as if this was about the State coming up with a huge amount of money. This is something that we all have to work on together. Each sector, be it industry, agriculture, building or transport, must make these transitions. It is more than just a pot of money that is required. These are the deep changes in the way we approach key networks that serve our lifestyle.

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