Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Minister that I am very sincere about addressing climate change. Our policy is very detailed. We have just produced an extensive document on it and our budget submission, which we produce every year, also shows precisely how we will pay for it in a whole range of areas. I will not deal with them all now, but it includes aviation fuel charges, for example. That would raise a lot of money from the people who actually make profit from polluting. That is the difference. What about the big agrifood barons who are making profit out of one of the big polluting areas, not the small beef farmer who is struggling to survive? Do not punish him or her, punish the guys who are declaring their profits in Luxembourg and who are making a fortune out of this sector and who then use the money raised to ensure a just transition for the small farmer.

I must question the Government's bona fideson this. In the first instance, it is not addressing the main problem, namely, that putting a price on pollution has failed. We have been doing it for several decades with carbon trading and with carbon taxes and it has not worked. I defy anyone to show me any evidence that would allow us to meet the targets in the eleven years available to us. We need much more radical actions. That means focusing on the main areas. In the context of energy, the Government should stop issuing fossil fuel licences now. Do not lock us into liquid natural gas infrastructure that will lock us into fossil fuel use for decades.

Housing is another big sector. We need to retrofit approximately 120,000 homes a year every year for 20 years, which means the State is going to have to do it. No one else can afford the cost, it must be done by the State. Transport must be made cheaper and the subsidies have to increase. People will not get out of cars unless the Government provides better public transport. During my time in this House, more than anyone else I have raised the issue of afforestation. Since the first year I arrived here, I have spoken of the need to increase the pathetic levels of forest cover in this country. Our targets are pathetic but our delivery is about 50% of those targets. That has been consistent since I entered the Dáil. Furthermore, the forestry we do plant is often worse for the environment than no forestry at all. We need to dramatically change the forestry model, increase the level of planting and invest in renewable energy and in research and development around producing renewable energy sources. That means funding our universities which we are not doing either.

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