Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is worth stating - and I would ask the Minister to agree on the floor of the House this evening - that climate change is still the greatest strategic threat to mankind, even in this era of Covid-19. I hope the Minister agrees that adapting to and trying to mitigate climate change will require massive State investment in changing the way we live our lives and run our societies. It is vital to ensure that the post-Covid stimulus package required is not wasted on reinstating the status quo. It is vital that we kill two birds with one stone by investing in green industry and putting workers and communities at the heart of that just transition. In that context, I welcome and recommend the paper, "Approaches to Transition", recently presented to the NESC by Dr. Jeanne Moore, which provides context for the choices we need to make. We need to put workers and their trade unions at the centre of the policies, strategies and approaches outlined in that report.

The immediate effects on our communities are apparent from the interim report produced by the just transition commissioner, Kieran Mulvey. While we welcome this report and we thank Mr. Mulvey for it, I would like to ask the Minister if he really believes that we are doing everything we can. Is he satisfied with the pace and scale of action? We need to ensure that employees in Shannonbridge, Lanesborough, Littleton in north Tipperary and east Galway and seasonal workers across the region who have relied on Bord na Móna for their incomes are not abandoned. We need to look after those who have already lost their jobs as well as those who are about to. The greatest challenge for us all is ensuring that new jobs are available in places where the older jobs are being lost and that the gap between the old jobs vanishing and the new jobs appearing does not destroy people's ability to sustain themselves and result in the economic destruction of our communities.

Running quickly through some of the measures the Minister outlined in the Government's response to the report, I ask whether they really give a sense that we are acting fast enough. On the just transition fund, €11 million seems a meagre enough investment in the context of training and business supports. Is it enough? In his response, the Minister stated, "The Department ... will write to State agencies and enterprises to identify land and facilities". I get no sense of urgency from this. How long will the Department wait for a response? The Minister also stated: "The Department and ESB will commission a study to examine the potential for using the existing infrastructure in the West Offaly and Lough Ree power plants as an Energy Hub in the Midlands." Does this really convey any urgency?

Is this information not quickly available to both the ESB and Bord na Móna already? Digital hubs and remote working are worthy objectives. Many have experience of them right now, but will they really address the needs of those directly affected? I agree absolutely that more electric charging points are needed but a bit more detail is also needed. The midlands retrofitting scheme, worth €20 million, is a great project but we need to know the scale. The centre for climate change and just transition represents an excellent project if the scale is sufficient.

Does the Minister have any idea when we will have detail on specific support for the midlands under the European Green Deal? The overall impression I have is of a holding pattern. We need to grasp the nettle and realise that a large number of people will be left behind if we do not act faster, increase invest and consider more radical solutions to immediate problems.

In view of the success of the Covid-19 pandemic wages support scheme and pandemic payment schemes, has the Minister considered proposing targeted, long-lasting direct supports, modelled on pandemic measures, for affected workers in order to bridge the gap between job losses and the creation of new industries? As with Covid, jobs are being threatened through no fault of the workers. It is a strategic, external threat of global magnitude.

I strongly welcome the recent move by Coillte to reclassify its forests in Dublin for non-commercial recreational use. I hope a more balanced strategy of development for Coillte can be extended across the country as part of our climate emergency.

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