Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with a few colleagues. I will be slipping out to let them in. I pay tribute to the staff on the front line and offer my sympathies to all those who have lost their lives due to Covid-19. It has taken more than 1,600 lives in Ireland and more than 350,000 worldwide, caused untold mental strain, severely damaged businesses and disrupted many young people's education. Every single person across this country has had to make sacrifices as we continue to grapple with this problem. Amid all the suffering, hardship and uncertainty, there has been one good change, as the Minister referred to, which is in emissions. While the true extent of our emissions reductions will not be fully known until next year, the early indications by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland are that we will see a 12% drop. The actions which have been required to achieve this are not sustainable in the short-term and many will be lost in the coming months. However, while this reversal may be necessary, many important lessons have been learned, which should now be added to the actions required to tackle climate change properly and meet our commitments.

If we are to achieve the goal of decoupling economic growth from carbon emissions as we recover, we must act. We must act on issues relating to transport, energy and retrofitting and embrace the climate opportunity and a new green deal so that we can properly decarbonise our economy. The soft barriers to working from home on an unprecedented scale have been removed. Employer concerns in particular have been addressed by the necessity of our circumstances. While barriers exist for those without high quality broadband, many who need to access childcare and others are now open to the potential for long-term practices to be developed. The large-scale closure of businesses was necessary to prevent further loss of life. It is a reality that some of those businesses will never reopen. The coming years will require a significant increase in reskilling and retraining and the process is something we hope to provide.

The reskilling process can address some of the key concerns over the scale of retrofitting which is required if we are to scale up our climate ambition. It could also support the development of the expertise required to undertake the next phase of the roll-out of offshore wind energy which needs to be prioritised if a new government is formed.

These will be issues for the next government and the forthcoming recovery. However, two issues need urgent attention and action on behalf of the Department. The first relates to the recommendations of the just transition commissioner. I welcome Kieran Mulvey's report. My colleague, Deputy Cowen, and I have been in touch with the Minister about this. We are five months into 2020 and not a cent of the just transition fund has been spent as far as I am aware. This needs to be urgently addressed. The midlands were already experiencing job losses as a result of decarbonisation.

The second issue is the ongoing crisis in public service journalism. As the Minister knows, print newspapers are experiencing serious short-term declines in advertising revenue and reductions in circulation numbers as a result of the ongoing crisis. While the Minister has announced supports for radio and a review of RTÉ is under way, we have seen nothing from Government for some local and regional newspapers. An Post has stepped into the breach to provide some supports, but these are limited through no fault of An Post's. For example, particular difficulties exist for free publications which are reliant on advertising. Unfortunately, some of them have collapsed which will have a major effect on local journalism in many areas.

I accept the Minister will say he has no responsibility for this element of public service journalism. However, he has responsibility for all the other major elements. I have written to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, on the issue and it has also been raised with the Department of the Taoiseach. While I received a response from the Minister, it gives no indication of any targeted measures being introduced. We urgently need ownership of this issue. Without this we risk more closures, job losses and lay-offs. While some may be inevitable, others may not.

I would welcome the Minister's comments. As I have 50 seconds of my own time, I would appreciate if he was brief. What is the Government doing for public service journalism specifically? The Minister needs to provide some actions in that area or else we will see other newspapers collapse.

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