Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Government is trying to address a gigantic challenge. It is a pity there was not more information in the details, including costings of the plan brought forward by the Government recently in respect of climate change. I have said previously that climate change presents Ireland with a political challenge which is as important as Brexit, as demanding as the peace process and as costly as the financial crisis of the past decade. If we look at climate change in that perspective, it is the biggest challenge. It is one of the reasons younger people are so militant in their approach to wanting sensible and affordable change and change that meets the requirements of the savings we have to make as a society with respect to the reductions in our carbon emissions and putting them forward within a reasonable timeframe. The timeframe the Government has put forward and the level of detail it has offered to the public are not convincing.

Not too long ago, I ran a very well attended public meeting in Dublin 15 in Dublin West about climate change at which one of the speakers was Professor John FitzGerald, together with other experts on climate and climate change. One of the issues that arose was for people who wanted to retrofit their homes and the question of who they would get to do that. As Professor FitzGerald pointed out, we do not have a training system to produce the tradespeople and the small businesses that will be able to do retrofitting on a house-by-house basis for many of the older homes in every other part of Ireland, whether urban or rural. We know already that the training of apprentices in SOLAS for the traditional apprenticeship trades is running at an extremely low ebb, notwithstanding that the building industry is desperately trying to recruit people. What we are doing at present is a repeat of the previous boom of the early 2000s, whereby we are importing huge numbers of tradespeople from other countries to work in Ireland. I agree with Professor FitzGerald that this is a fundamental change. Unless somebody reputable can give householders an estimate of the best way to address the various issues in their homes, they will not be in a position to judge that. We will be left with a situation where a huge amount of piecemeal retrofitting is being done; a bit of this, a bit of that.

The Government has made a number of noises around the potential, for instance, to have credit loan schemes at cheap prices via institutions such as the credit unions in particular or to do it, in some cases, via utility bills.

There is merit in both of these suggestions. However, the Minister must ensure that for those who are not technical experts, they can get serious advice which they can study and examine. They must be able to meet somebody qualified who will not rip them off in telling them that they need to undertake works that will cost €30,000. Instead, they should be given a menu of actions which they can take on an affordable basis over time and in respect of which they can actually claw back the cost.

Another area where the Government can receive a double dividend is maintaining hedgerows. Hedgerows are being cut down at a ferocious rate by farmers who have been encouraged to do so by one side of agricultural policy. The Government must promote the growing of trees in towns and cities. Asthma and other major respiratory health problems affect young and old citizens. If more trees and hedges could be planted in cities and towns, these health difficulties would be massively reduced. That, in turn, would lead to a reduction in the burden on health services of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and asthma, diseases which are costing the HSE massive amounts of time and money. The Government could put in place several practical measures for the coming winter. The tree planting season starts in late October and November and continues until March. We could green cities and towns.

As for training apprentices, the academic year starts in September. We could start immediately to ensure we will have qualified and reliable workers who will not rip people off. That is what the public is afraid of.

See this speech in context