Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the Climate Action Plan 2019. I welcome its belated production as I do the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Action, much of whose work the action plan refers to. Sadly, in the Minister's party there always seems to be a large element of spin when any major step is taken. The Minister and his colleagues arrived in Grangegorman in a hybrid bus which is one of just three that we have, although there are many on order. We also have 200 diesel buses on their way after being recently purchased despite the fact that we have known since the mid-1990s that diesel is a notorious and dangerous pollutant. All those who have served in government, including the Green Party during that time took no steps whatsoever to take that issue. The 150-page action plan and 88-page annex comprise 183 action points.

Like my colleagues, I regard many of those points as incredibly vague. Given its nature, climate action mitigation is fundamentally different from the Action Plan on Jobs or the action plan the Minister attempted to carry out in education. This is much more far-reaching.

I mentioned a number of caveats in respect of the plan at yesterday's meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight, which was attended by important stakeholders such as Social Justice Ireland, the Nevin Economic Research Institute, NERI, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, the Construction Industry Federation, CIF and IBEC. Based on the research of Social Justice Ireland and NERI, I made the point that throughout our history - Deputy Howlin spoke this morning about the centenary of this Parliament - taxation policy has been grossly unfair to the most vulnerable and the lowest income households in society. We have always levied significant carbon taxes. We have substantial consumption taxes and very high excise taxes, which are among the highest in the world. These have been levied on ordinary households and ordinary people.

The constituents I represent are suspicious that this is a plan which the Government, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party will bring forward to impoverish the most vulnerable households. I do not see in this report or the speeches I have heard how those households will be protected. There is nothing in the plan about carbon dividends, basic income, responses in the taxation system and, above all, better wages and salaries and a much higher minimum wage to deliver a living wage. Where are all of those measures?

I welcome the idea of establishing a climate action delivery board and the other matters promised in the section setting out the various actions. I note also that the Government is promising a climate action (amendment) Bill. When will we see that?

Five-year carbon budgets are a serious matter. The Green Party went into government with Fianna Fáil in 2007. That Government wrecked the economy and the Green Party in government did nothing about regulating the banks. The then Green Party Minister, former Deputy John Gormley, came into the House year after year with spurious carbon budgets based on total waffle. Unfortunately, that is the record of the Green Party in this country. Deputy Eamon Ryan and his colleagues did nothing to address the fundamental issues. They should have been left that Government in a flash and helped to topple it but instead they stayed until its last days, cycling in and out to their Government offices. We know the Green Party's record and we do not trust it. That is the basic problem.

If there must be five-year carbon budgets, and I accept they are necessary, at a minimum there must be a full sense of fairness and justice. In recent weeks, we had another Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, report and, for the second year running, IFAC has been severely critical of the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, and the Government in respect of their control of public expenditure and the Government's expenditure ceilings. Is it the case that we need to have full five-year budgets, of which carbon mitigation processes will be an integral part?

The Taoiseach spoke about nudging people into changing their habits. This brings me to my second caveat. The Government did not have a major nudging message for big agri-businesses, developers, retailers or aviation companies. The plan does not seem to provide for anything in that regard, yet our constituents repeatedly tell us they do not want to buy tomatoes or fruit, for example, in plastic bags. The retailers decide to use so much plastic and boxes, yet the Minister does not have a message for them. Why would he given that party represents their interests in this House, as does Fianna Fáil? He has no interest in talking to them.

The Minister has an economics background, as do I, and he is aware of behavioural economics. Richard Thaler and a colleague won a Nobel prize in 2017 for a book called Nudge, which sets out how nudging works. My reading of the book is that when it comes to major changes, the process of nudging will be a game-changer in managing the climate challenges facing the planet. If it is a game-changer, we clearly need to address the major stakeholders in the economy because it is they that have to make the changes. To leave change to ordinary households is a cynical cop-out. Unfortunately, however, it is one that is typical of this Government.

I agree with my Green Party colleague that there is a major lacuna in the plan on public transport. Where are the plans? As people constantly tell us on Twitter, the Spanish were able to roll out metros to beat the band, up and down Spain from Seville to the Basque Country. The Russians did the same and post communism the Poles have built a fine metro network in Warsaw. What did we do? We spent that money on bankers, rather than on public transport infrastructure. Public transport is a major lacuna.

As my colleagues noted, the Minister has dodged the issue of aviation and the fact that big aviation pays no tax on kerosene. Kerosene has been tax free for the aviation industry for decades. I know we are an island and aviation is important for connectivity and so on but would it not be more realistic to accurately price the cost of aviation for business and for all citizens? The Minister has nothing to say on that. As Deputy Paul Murphy said, the 1 million electric vehicles by 2030 seem to be a chimera and a fantastic pipe dream on the part of Fine Gael.

While the new Luas line to Cabra is obviously welcome, the Government has had opportunities since before the crash in 2007 to give this city, Cork, Limerick and Galway decent public transport systems and it simply did not take them.

The challenges in the production of electricity are obviously grave. I note my colleague, Deputy Bríd Smith, rightly mentioned that these data centres, which are springing up all over our city and country, use massive amounts of electricity of up to 20 MW or 25 MW for a single plant. I noticed the first one in my constituency of Dublin Bay North, which is in Clonshaugh, uses 20 MW. They are constant and massive users of electricity. How will they contribute to mitigation? Again, everything seems to be predicated on offshore renewables and microgeneration but I am not sure the Government's plan addresses the real challenge in electricity.

There has been a total cop-out on agriculture and land use. The sections after action 101 consist of nothing but waffle. The Government is not prepared to tackle agriculture because it is a bedrock of support for 40 Fine Gael Deputies in this House. The Government is not prepared to challenge the sector. Improving nitrogen use and livestock management efficiency is mentioned. What kind of nonsense is that from somebody who has a background in economics? The Minister could not even tell me a few weeks ago how much mitigation is provided on our island by our hedgerow system and general tree cover. He could not give me that information and he has been in that Department for at least a year. That whole section is pathetic and gives us very little.

My key concern is that there is a huge challenge for us and I accept that. We are very fearful that this report indicates that our most vulnerable constituents will have to suffer and that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will not put up a challenge to the big vested interests in this country because they are parties that represent those interests. For this reason, the next Government will have to produce a much fairer mitigation programme based on realistic figures and achievements, which involves the whole community and is not just aimed at ordinary citizens.

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