Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the workers in the Visitors Gallery. This is an incredibly simple issue. We need a rapid, just transition to a net zero carbon economy by 2030, which means moving away rapidly from fossil fuels. It means the use of finite resources such as peat for energy supply must stop immediately. It is incredibly costly to our livable planet to continue to use them. We have to do this in a just way. A just transition means no worker loses out at all. It means no worker losing any income or his or her job and terms and conditions. It is extremely simple. It is necessary to do that for the workers who deserve to have the right thing done by them, in particular in the context of successive Governments from the early 2000s knowing we would face this situation. It is also necessary from the point of view of the environment and the reasons set out by Naomi Klein as referred to by Deputy Bríd Smith.

If we do not have a just transition, there will be no buy-in from ordinary people across the country for the change we need. Instead of treating them as they are being treated now, these workers could be at the heart of a national climate service. They are skilled workers and could play a key role in transitioning our economy. A green new deal with socialist policies involves changing people's lives for the better and giving people decent and quality jobs in transitioning. For example, boglands have great potential as sources of wind and solar power. We need a proposal from the Government to increase wind and solar production on worked-out bogland with major community involvement along with a range of other investments and initiatives to ensure workers do not lose out.

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