Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Climate change is a global crisis and it is the challenge of our time. It is young people who are leading the way in forcing the changes that are necessary. They have shown immense leadership in respect of this issue. The past two decades have been the hottest in the past 400 years. Sea levels are rising and the Earth's temperature is increasing at an alarming rate. The Arctic ice is melting and it is predicted that by 2040 the region will expect to have its first completely ice-free summer. Coral reefs are dying. There are extreme weather events, storms, heatwaves and forest fires. In the context of our own country, Storm Lorenzo is on the way. This storm is a previously unprecedented event and it is the second of its kind in the past couple of years. Species are becoming extinct at an alarming rate and entire ecosystems are dying. We know that we need to act now, while there is still time left to do something about this. Difficult decisions will have to be made. They will be unpalatable. They will be a challenge and they will require all of us to make those changes together. They will require the State to pay and each and every one of us to put our hands in our pockets to pay also. That does pose a difficulty for Government in making those changes but that is the responsibility that comes with being in a leadership role. We must look at issues like the carbon tax and the challenges of increasing it, always bearing in mind those who are vulnerable to fuel poverty and protecting the most vulnerable in our society.

There is great pressure on farming as well, which must also be handled in a just and fair way. I dispute the policy at EU level whereby we seek to import food from other countries and reduce food production within the Union. That policy needs to be looked at. The EU must be prepared to pay to have good quality, sustainable food produced within member states. We also have to help people to transition to alternatives. I do not need to tell the Minister that the electric vehicles he mentioned are unaffordable to most people, as are solar panels. If the State is going to meet its 2030 obligations, having failed miserably to meet its 2020 targets, it will have to assist people financially in changing to alternatives. The challenge is now for the Oireachtas to act as a whole but also for Government to lead on this, help us meet our targets and help people address the climate challenge.

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