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

First, I thank the Deputies who participated in this debate. A wide number of issues have been raised and I understand why people are expressing fear about the impact on different communities. That is always going to be the case when we face the significant change that is required of us. I ask people who have expressed such fears to show a little forbearance about thinking what the future of our community will be like if we postpone all of this change. That is an important question.

I come from a family farm background and recognise that our agriculture depends on exporting. We need people who are committed to buying our products because of the high standards to which we produce them. That is increasingly becoming a feature of the marketplace. I have been on a number of trade missions promoting Irish food and it is really important to think that through. If we start to rail against the unfairness of the changes that we, as a relatively prosperous country, have signed up to at international level and point the finger at other countries that should be doing far more, we run the risk of undermining the whole effort with absolutely catastrophic consequences for the global community.

It is important that we think of what will future proof homes, family farms and enterprises in ten, 15 and 20 years' time when, as we know, carbon is going to be valued at €265 per tonne. That is the world in which we will be living and we must ensure that the choices we make now mean our families will be best placed to be resilient in that new world that is opening up.

It is not an accident that the next generation is pointing its finger at us and saying we have failed it. It is really important that we think this through. Deputy Neville compared the Joint Committee on Climate Action to the debate around the repeal of eight amendment of the Constitution. Many people went into that committee with views that were fairly fixed but not altogether based on having evaluated the evidence and found that the evidence, when they looked at it, was different. Some people came out of that committee strongly endorsing the Teagasc action plan as something that should be done and also endorsing the need to have a signal in carbon pricing that ensures we do not lock ourselves into carbon dependent assets that will become stranded assets in the years to come, dependence on which would lock us into very poor lifestyles that would undermine the well-being of our generations to come.

I understand why people ask how this will be done and how we will make the change. Those are legitimate questions. The way I look at it is that those who postpone change will face the highest costs and be left with the fewest opportunities. If we can start now and trace a roadmap to delivering these things, we will deliver significant change. The changes will be challenging. We need the fabric and heating systems of one third of existing homes significantly improved. One third of vehicles on the road need to be electric and non-carbon emitting by 2030. We need to expand massively the amount of renewable energy we put onto our system using wind resources and other alternatives to the fuels that are now doing such damage. These are big changes but we have, as a community, been able to make big changes before. We pride ourselves in having the pragmatic flexibility to do it.

It is important that we try and stay together as a community to deliver this. Brendan Behan used to say the first item on the agenda of any new organisation was the split. If we do not stay together, we will fail the generation that is knocking at our door and saying we need to make radical change.

I cannot go through, in five minutes, the many worthy comments that were made in this debate. I assure Deputies that this is the start of a process where we are determined to achieve the necessary change. This plan is not set in stone. As new ideas emerge, we will adapt and change the plan. It is important that we start by recognising that every part of our community, be it enterprise, agriculture, homes, public service or waste management, needs to make a contribution. This plan has tried to allocate that fairly across those sectors. We must work together with those communities to achieve this. At the end of the process, we will have warmer homes, cleaner air, resilient enterprises and farms that can stick the test of the changes that are rapidly coming down the tracks. The goal we are trying to achieve here is well worth the effort.

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