Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil gives a guarded welcome to this new climate action plan. We welcome the momentum it provides following the declaration of a climate and biodiversity emergency in May. We welcome that after eight years of knowing inaction and deliberate delay in some respects, we have some sort of indication that the Government may be about to treat the climate breakdown with the seriousness it deserves. That is largely down to the work the Minister has done in the relatively short period he has been in office.

However, this is no climate revolution. I think we accept that. Students and young people will not and, indeed, should not stop their calls for real action. The State has not become a leader on climate change overnight. Indeed, it is fair to say that this Government, far from being led, has followed.

The House should first express, as the Minister has done, its gratitude to the Citizens' Assembly for its extensive deliberations and comprehensive proposals on how climate action must be prioritised across all sectors. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action undertook an extensive examination of these proposals leading to a landmark cross-party report in March which included 42 separate recommendations. There was some difference of opinion, particularly on the taxation matter, but we largely agreed on the kind of work that has to be done to achieve the preservation and protection of the globe, as the Minister rightly identified. I thank the other members of the committee for their commitment. It is appropriate that work be recognised.

Thanks to input from a considerable range of experts, the committee members have a good overview of Government policy on climate change, but some background may also be useful for this House. The other day, it was interesting to see the Taoiseach and Ministers take one of the three hybrid buses in operation. I am not sure all of them would have been aware that the Government has now three climate-related plans in operation. The first, the national mitigation plan, was produced in 2017, as the Minister will be aware. We had the national development plan in 2018. It now seems these previous two plans may have been left behind in the other two hybrid buses because we have moved on. The national mitigation plan was strongly criticised by national and international authorities for failing to tackle our rapidly rising emissions, which led to Ireland's climate laggard reputation. The Government was then quick to highlight increased investment in climate action under the subsequent national development plan but neglected to mention that these proposed investments did not include any analysis of their climate impact. Unsurprisingly, this latest strategy clarifies that the Government's national development plan will not achieve the reduction in polluting emissions that is required. It remains the case that Ireland is not on track to meet its 2020 or 2030 commitments and the fear is that there are those in government who appear to support paying millions of euro in non-compliance costs rather than spending the millions on actions that will benefits citizens in due course.

This new climate plan is also to be welcomed in that it has adopted the recommendations of the Oireachtas joint committee to introduce mechanisms to hold the Government and relevant Departments to account for their climate obligations, including an enhanced climate action council, a new standing committee on climate action and the introduction of five-yearly carbon budgets. Thanks to the committee, this House will have the opportunity to instil discipline and end years of haphazard planning at State level. It is noted in the new climate plan that a delivery report on progress will be produced each quarter. Can the Minister say when the first quarterly report be published? He might come back to us on that. He might also clarify the additional support and use of State resources that will be provided to the new council.

Will the Minister confirm that the climate action (amendment) Bill noted in the plan will be prioritised and enacted in 2019 and not merely published in 2019? We would like to get moving on that.

On the targets, I am somewhat concerned that certain recommendations and timelines from the cross-party Oireachtas committee report have been rejected despite the fact the main Government party supported these measures in the Oireachtas committee's recommendations just three months ago. The Government’s new action plan does not include a net zero target to decarbonise the economy by 2050, stating that further analysis is necessary. How can we claim to support climate justice at international level if we appear to be questioning the need to put a Paris-aligned target in legislation? This target is also needed to send a clear signal to citizens, businesses and investors that there is no wriggle room to get out of the kind of action that is needed. It seems to have been forgotten that the Government produced an energy White Paper in 2015 which included a 2050 objective to reduce Ireland’s energy emissions by up to 95%. The new climate action plant states that it includes "a decarbonisation pathway to 2030 which would be consistent with the adoption of a net zero target in Ireland by 2050". The modelling for the new plan is also based on a net zero target. At EU level, the Government has known for some time that a net zero objective is being strongly supported. The Minister might be clear as to why the Government was unable or unwilling to include this target in legislation. He also noted that further analysis is necessary. He might outline what additional analysis the Government believes is necessary to address this matter.

At Wednesday’s meetings of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight and the Joint Committee on Climate Action on the new plan, Fianna Fáil sought information on the annual costs and savings of implementation of these measures. There also are real costs of delayed action, such as through congestion and air pollution. The Minister might clarify the costs and savings of the actions detailed in the plan. He previously stated that 75% of the measures will not result in a net cost. Can he, therefore, provide specific information on the 25%?

I would welcome further information on the reassessment of expenditure commitments in the national development plan in light of the new climate strategy. Some €14 billion, or 65%, of the €22 billion investment envisaged for climate action in the national development plan is expected to come from non-Exchequer sources. The Minister might clarify how much of the costs of the new climate plan are expected to be met by non-Exchequer sources. I note the introduction of a 70% renewables target in the new climate plan which the committee also recommended. A mix of renewable energy sources will need to be supported in the first round of the new renewable energy support schemes, including community projects. The Minister might elaborate further on this point in due course.

It is particularly important also that the State’s offshore wind resource potential receives support under the new scheme. The Oireachtas committee raised the need for a legislative framework for regulatory and licensing aspects of offshore wind as a matter of priority and recommended that the maritime area and foreshore (amendment) Bill be enacted by end of 2019. It is encouraging that in the new climate plan the Government has committed to completing the necessary analysis in aligning planning procedures and prioritising this Bill in 2019. The Government will certainly receive support from Fianna Fáil in trying to achieve that.

As I stated, Fianna Fáil has given this plan a guarded welcome but it is hugely lacking in certain aspects, particularly in regard to transport. The plan includes no commitments to support rural transport services. The joint committee was clear that we need an assessment of rural travel demand, a target for modal shift and emissions reductions, as well as proposals for an integrated public transport network to include LocalLink, Bus Éireann, private bus operators, and the school bus services. The plan merely notes that a review will take place. There is not even an explanation of this commitment in the text, unlike all other actions. Can the Minister please explain why this is the case and why measures to improve rural public transport were not included?

The report of the joint committee included several recommendations on public transport and active travel and that the current transport infrastructure programmes should be revised to achieve at least 10% expenditure for cycling infrastructure. The Minister stated yesterday that it is not possible to run a bus up every rural laneway and boreen and I get that. He might enlighten the Dáil as to how houses at the end of every laneway and boreen will be able to afford an electric car. It would be useful if the Minister addressed this question. Perhaps we need to have some further discussion with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport on that issue.

On the specific commitment that Ireland will achieve 950,000 electric vehicles, EVs, by 2030, has the Minister any costings on the necessary infrastructure required? We understand that at the moment there is huge interest in EV grants available through the SEAl and that the SEAl may struggle to meet that demand. Has any analysis been undertaken on the levels of grants and incentives that would need to put in place to achieve the figure the Minister has set out of almost 1 million vehicles?

We also understand the National Transport Authority, NTA, purchased 200 highly polluting diesel buses last year which will be in operation for 20 years and will continue to undermine our public health. Professor John FitzGerald indicated at the Committee on Budgetary Oversight that if the cost of carbon detailed in the updated public expenditure code had been applied to those buses, their purchase would not have been permitted. There is a gap in the thinking there. Were such purchases examined as part of the plan? Will they be cancelled in light of the revised public expenditure code, as well as the climate emergency declared last month?

I also note that no reference is made to the Department’s upcoming clean air strategy, notwithstanding the recent EPA findings on hugely damaging levels of air pollution. Can the Minister provide a specific date for publication of the Department’s new clean air strategy, which we have been waiting for more than a year?

In conclusion, there are many other areas we need to address. Yesterday at the committee, I spoke in particular on the issue of the just transition, so that we are very clear that we do not leave communities behind. If we are to achieve what we are setting out to do in this plan and in others, it will require some communities facing much more change than others in terms of enterprises and employment. The State will have to put in place the task force identified in the Oireachtas report and by the Citizens' Assembly to ensure that we do not end up with situations that have happened in other countries, particularly in the United States, where people in parts of middle America were left behind. People in the rust belt, as it became known, were left behind as it moved away from some of the more traditional industries. We cannot afford for that to happen here because it would have a very significant impact on getting people to change their behaviour in the way that we want. It cannot be done in a way that disenfranchises entire communities.

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