Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I shall share time with Deputy Paul Murphy.

I welcome the workers from Bord na Móna to the Gallery this evening, many of whom have travelled quite a distance. I thank the Business Committee for acceding to the request by People Before Profit to have this debate. The heading is oddly titled but, as we can see from the discussions, it is about the Bord na Móna workers and just transition, which is supposed to lie at the heart of their future. Their future cannot be considered in isolation from the future of the environment or that of climate justice. In the words of one climate justice campaigner the workers "have earned a living and served the people of Ireland by harvesting peat to heat our homes and power our industries." They cannot be allowed to have given their blood, sweat and tears and be thrown on the scrapheap.

In ICTU's publication of 2019, Building a Just Transition: the case for Bord na Móna, the union identified very clearly the momentous significance of what is happening in Bord na Móna. These might be the first group of workers to face the challenge of just transition, or the first group of workers with whom Government has to face the challenge of just transition, but they will not be the last. The very workers who turn on and off the lights in the ESB are just around the corner from this.

As others have said, it is therefore important that this litmus test is faced.

I was on the Committee on Climate Action. One of the priority recommendations we managed to get through was priority recommendation No. 4 in the energy chapter, which has been completely ignored. Recommendation No. 4 states, inter alia:

[I]n the interests of a Just Transition, any decision to close Moneypoint or to end peat production, the Government will guarantee to underwrite the current pay, conditions and pensions rights of workers affected where those workers continue to be employed in State renewable energy industries.

I am glad that we prevailed in sticking with this recommendation which seeks to provide concrete solutions for Bord na Móna and ESB workers. However, there has been a selective invoking of the recommendations of the report of the Committee on Climate Action. The priority recommendations were agreed by the joint committee after lengthy meetings and considered deliberation. Most notably, however, in the case of the Government's recommendation to increase carbon taxes, it has repeatedly invoked the committee's recommendations while overlooking completely and ignored others, including the crucial priority recommendation No. 4 in the energy chapter. It is not acceptable for the Minister and Government to cherry-pick the more regressive recommendations while jettisoning conveniently the ones which are of critical importance to the workers of this country.

I consulted closely with the unions representing Bord na Móna workers in advance of today's debate and I take this opportunity to relay some of their most pressing concerns. Inadequate levels of finance have been allocated to a just transition to secure jobs and work on bog rehabilitation. The budgetary allocation of €31 million is inadequate for a number of reasons, as was the manner in which it was allocated. The €31 million will be raised through an increase in carbon taxes and allocated to schemes to support a just transition to a low-carbon economy. When one looks at the break-down, however, €20 million will be dedicated to the creation of new energy efficiency schemes, most of which will involve wrap-arounds and retrofitting of homes in the midlands contracted out to private companies. An allocation of €5 million will be provided for peatland rehabilitation but where will that money go? More than likely, the National Parks and Wildlife Service will contract it out to private companies. A paltry €6 million will be dedicated to a new just transition fund.

The above is in stark contrast to what has happened in the Spanish coal industry. Mining unions in Spain have won a landmark deal for a just transition for coal mining. Theplan del carbonfor northern Spain covers a workforce similar in size to that of Bord na Móna and an investment plan of €250 million has been put in place to provide them with a package of benefits and a sustainable development plan. Approximately 60% of the miners are aged over 48 and those with 25 years of service can take early retirement. They are provided with a redundancy payment of €10,000 as well as 35 days per year of service. Additional payments are provided for miners affected by asbestosis and money has been set aside to restore and environmentally regenerate the former sites, upgrade facilities within the communities themselves and provide for the creation of an action plan for each community. Why can we not do that? In November 2018, the then Minister told the Dáil that Bord na Móna was assessing its eligibility for an application for assistance to the European Union globalisation fund. As of October 2019, that application has still not been made. It is shameful. If the Minister does not instruct Bord na Móna to fast-track that application, he will leave these workers on the scrap heap.

I turn to the position of the workers. The last meeting the workers had with Bord na Móna was described to me as "brutal". In fact, Bord na Móna has consistently refused to honour outstanding issues, some of which I will outline now. With regard to the retirement age, there is discrimination against older workers. Bord na Móna is refusing to allow workers aged over 62 to retire. Why would it when it can get more years of work out of them without having to pay them any redundancy? Seasonal workers are being disregarded completely and new ways of flexible working are questionable. There is nothing on joint training and upskilling of the workers. ICTU has requested the establishment of a forum at the Workplace Relations Commission but Bord na Móna has refused point black to engage with the proposal. There is no clarity around plans for the ESB at Shannonbridge and Lanesborough where Bord na Móna workers depend on ESB production. No plan has been outlined for the future.

There are concrete supports we could provide, including training and upskilling, proper redundancy payments, permitting all workers to enter the voluntary redundancy scheme and to deal with the treatment of seasonal workers. The appropriate context for this work is a just transition forum at the Workplace Relations Commission, and not before a commissioner with €6 million who will relate to local businesses. We need to relate to workers and their union representatives otherwise we are giving them the two fingers. We need clarity on what Bord na Móna is doing. A senior figure in the company said recently at a union meeting that a just transition is 95% bull. In fact, he said "bull" with something beginning with "S" attached to it, but I will not use unparliamentary language. That is what he told the unions and that is what he thinks of a just transition. The Minister is the person in charge and we need him to undo this mess immediately, apply to the European Union fund for more money for these workers, talk to the unions in the Workplace Relations Commission, which exists for that reason, and set up schemes to deal justly with the transition from peat production. If we do not do that, we are leading ourselves into major trouble and the Minister may face the wrath of the workers who switch the lights in this country on and off.

I conclude by referring to Naomi Klein, the famous campaigner, who asked how those who inflict brutal, neoliberal climate polices that result only in economic hardship expect these communities to believe them and stay with us to help transition and move to a new system.

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