Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is aware that communities in rural Ireland will undoubtedly be affected most by changes in agriculture, the increasing carbon taxation and the closure of peat bogs, particularly in the midlands. There are many such bogs in Derrygreenagh, Boora, Derrahaun, Cullenagh and across the midlands. The recent announcement on the Moneypoint plant in west Clare was instructive about how electricity generation would be handled. For some, the changes will dramatically alter the way in which they live, affecting farming and the types of employment that will be available in the future. There could also be many opportunities for rural communities in the production of green methane gas, microgeneration and mixed agriforestry, but if we are to capitalise on them, we will need strong local economic diversification plans to smooth the transition. Rural communities, particularly farmers and farm labourers, will need to be adequately incentivised and rewarded. That is why the Labour Party continually called for a diversification fund at the all-party Joint Committee on Climate Action, but I have heard nothing about it yet. I hope it is a measure the Ministers and the Department will support. Otherwise, the report will be a waste of time. Local diversification plans will undoubtedly cut across a number of Departments from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to the Departments of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Employment Affairs and Social Protection, but they must be consistent, coherent and always have the concerns of rural communities at their core. The climate action delivery board cited in the climate action plan is one possible mechanism for achieving a just transition in Ireland. Is it being given consideration? There is no use in us waking up after the fact. We must act now.

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