Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important matter. I also welcome those measures we can and must take to arrive at a fair, just and proportionate response to the issue of climate change. I do not believe the Government has the slightest clue of what those words mean. It does not do "fair" or "proportionate" and I do not know if we can trust it with climate change.

Do I believe that the proposals put forward by the United Nations or the European Union on this issue are credible or enforceable? I have grave doubts.

Recent history has caused severe doubts. The European Court of Auditors has made it clear that EU action to support carbon capture and storage and innovative renewables has not succeeded. Between 2008 and 2017, ambitious targets were set but EU support for demonstration projects achieved little by way of projects delivered and results achieved. The Government was high on promises and ambitious targets but little was achieved. The EU is preparing to launch the innovation fund for 2021 to help to speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy. Just look at the devastating impact that this Government's response to a just transition has brought about in the midlands and at Bord na Móna. The Government was warned about what was happening there and now we find that it is borrowing money to pay wages because it has tied its hands behind its back and blindfolded the company without any initiatives to help it to transfer. We have lost our Bord na Móna plant in Littleton in Tipperary and many more of them are going to go. Bord na Móna is now saying that the entire workforce is under threat due to Government inaction on implementing just transition measures. Is the Minister listening to anyone? The Taoiseach's speech to the UN was grand and rosy but his speech in the House some weeks ago incensed the farmers in rural Ireland, especially beef farmers, because he told us all that we should eat less beef because it is carcinogenic. Flippant statements such as that have done damage. Is that not a measure of the Government's complete disregard and how its lack of action is impacting on people in jobs? Ordinary people, smallholdings and householders cannot be punished excessively in this area.

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