David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The microgeneration Bill proposed by Sinn Féin and many others related to climate change and climate justice could be progressed by the Government but it refuses to allow them to do so.

Before I get into the substance of the Bill, I will respond to some comments made by the Minister to the effect that he was confused by my earlier contribution to the debate on climate change regarding my comments relating to a just transition. The Minister is indeed confused because what he said I said is not what I said. I said that the Government is not taking the action. This Government has failed to make the proper investments in public transport or to put in place proper strategies on afforestation and public housing to ensure we have good homes for people, as well as a fair and just transition and a move to a zero carbon society. Sinn Féin is not holding back progress. The Minister needs to listen to the Members of this House who have put forward numerous Bills and motions regarding investment in the alternatives, which is what this should be about. This is where the debate needs to be, not on false flags and promises that cannot be delivered. I gave the example earlier of the 1 million electric cars, which I do not believe, genuinely, can be delivered in the timeframe set out by the Minister. In any event, I would prefer the investment to be in public transport. We need to be looking to real solutions, not ones that might suit the Government's agenda.

As for this Bill, a just transition provides decent jobs, social protection and security to workers, as well as communities most affected by the transition, to a sustainable economy. It ensures that all climate policies are socially and rurally proofed. No workers or communities can be left behind in the move away from peat production to more sustainable forms of energy generation. This is of prime importance for the midlands and Moneypoint in County Clare. To ensure a just transition for peat workers, we need to establish a national just transition task force based on dialogue with trade unions and other stakeholders. This task force should negotiate a fair deal for fossil fuel workers and their communities and should ensure an orderly exit from coal and peat as soon as possible. We cannot hold back the changes that are necessary in these areas. We have to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. We have to examine the alternatives, such as wind and solar and the other renewable energies in which we need to invest. The people who work in these areas need to be part of that transition. This Bill provides a structure for that process and is a healthy development, one that should get full support across the House.

Deputy Paul Murphy is right that the Government attaches a money message to a Bill when it does not have the courage to say it is not supporting it. The Minister should set out his opposition to the Bill in a clear way. I do not believe some of his arguments, such as the suggestion that the Bill has the opposite effect of not bringing about transparency and that it is politicians and the Minister himself who should be held to account. Some of the arguments he put forward against the Bill are spurious and without foundation. This Bill provides an opportunity to develop a clear, coherent just transition template that can be applied in other sectors and regions as part of the wider transition process. This requires a whole-of-Government approach, with key energy production semi-States such as the ESB, playing a central role. Given the urgency of the situation, it is vital that this work begins immediately with the establishment of the just transition forum for the midlands. This forum needs to be tasked with developing the appropriate measures within a specific timeframe to ensure that neither the workforce nor the local communities are left disadvantaged.

The Government’s current recommendation is to establish a review group positioned within the National Economic and Social Council, NESC. This is not good enough. We need a full task force that brings together all stakeholders. Communities in the midlands region are already affected by the move away from peat production for energy. The idea of just transition first emerged in the 1970s, when it was proposed that people whose jobs were threatened by nuclear disarmament should be compensated for the loss. In the 1990s, the argument was broadened to refer to workers in environmentally damaging jobs whose employment is affected by new policies aimed at reducing pollution. Today, the definition of a just transition was widened again to bring in the communities in which those workers live. Unfortunately, the Government is trying to drop the word "just" from the concept. It has started to talk about the transition to low-carbon as though this is something that can happen through changes in consumer choices. In a point to which the Minister took exception, I mentioned earlier that the Government puts market solutions front and centre, rather than State investment and the State taking a leading role, being the driving force in bringing about the just transition that is necessary and bringing the communities with us. We will not make a transition, just or otherwise, unless we bring people with us. That is the point I was making earlier in regard to carbon tax increases. We can have different opinions and I respect that there are sincerely-held views on that issue but we can all accept that notwithstanding increases in carbon taxes, in some respects there are no alternatives in place for people to make the transition which is necessary. That is what we need to do. There is nothing stopping us investing in public transport or in retrofitting people's homes. In my view, this should start with older people and public housing and should build outwards from there. We should not be putting in place schemes for deep retrofitting for those people who might have money to spend. Rather, we should supporting people across society and doing so in a fair and just way.

There is nothing stopping us from building good quality public housing. It is the Government that did not build the houses which are necessary.

That is what I mean when I use the word "hypocrisy". There are people in Dublin and elsewhere who do not have homes in which to live. There are people renting apartments that are substandard. We have heard of three or four people living in small and tight apartments that are certainly not environmentally sustainable and have very low energy ratings. Some people have talked about the return of tenements in certain parts of Dublin. Rather than continuing to allow that, which is what the Government has done, how about building the good-quality public housing about which many of us have spoken?

We need a truly ambitious afforestation programme. This is something that can be done. We can bring rural communities with us. Such a programme would truly make a difference because, as we know, planting forests in a sustainable way creates natural habitats for biodiversity and forests act as carbon sinks. Through aggressive and ambitious afforestation, we can become carbon-neutral more quickly.

Retrofitting housing stock would help. The only people who are stopping the Minister doing any of this are the Minister himself, his colleagues in government and those in Fianna Fáil who support him, not us.

I referred to public transport in the earlier debate. Public transport is central to the concept of a just transition. Unless we invest in public transport, people will not have the alternatives they need. Emails obtained through a freedom of information request reveal differences of opinion between the Department and the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport about the potential of the Government to reach its target of 1 million electric cars. Everybody in this Chamber and anybody who has an ounce of sense knows that this cannot be delivered. If the Minister talked to the people who sell the cars, they would tell him that this cannot be done even if we wanted to do it. It is not going to happen even if everybody wants to do it. That is why the Government needs to refocus and reshape its policy and look at what the real alternative is, which is public transport first and foremost.

It must also be underpinned by proper spatial planning. If we want to build regions outside Dublin to act as a counterbalance to growth in the capital, we need to focus on regional cities such as Galway, Cork, Waterford and Limerick, all of which need integrated transport hubs. There are parts of Waterford city in which people do not use public transport because it is not as accessible as it should be. This is madness given the necessity of reaching our emissions targets and climate justice goals. The brake is not being applied on this side of the House. The brake on reaching our targets and doing what we need to do in terms of a just transition, unfortunately, is being applied by the Government and, in part, Fianna Fáil.

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