Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for those questions. I agree absolutely that the climate challenge is the greatest challenge humanity faces. It will preoccupy this House for the next ten years and for the 20 years thereafter. We are seeking to reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide over the next ten years and to eliminate them entirely over the following 20. That will mean a dramatic change in the way we live our lives. It will require investment on the part of the Government but it will also require the mobilisation of considerable private capital. Our financial institutions will have to change their attitude in order that the capital can be mobilised. It will require changes to the habits of a lifetime so everyone, whether they are householders, enterprise staff or farmers, will have to look at the way they do their work. It will require us to accept new infrastructure in our communities. There has been a great deal of resistance to some of the renewable infrastructures but these represent the pathway to clean energy that does not have an impact on our climate. This pathway will, of course, require leadership, engagement and the designing of just transition policies by the Government.

We are engaged in a very large-scale programme of transformation. I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge or the importance of the work but I believe there was resolve in the previous Dáil to take on the work. I am of the view that the resolve to which I refer is even greater in this Dáil.

The Deputy asked whether we are doing enough in respect of the just transition within the midlands. We have moved very swiftly. I have been around this House for quite a long time but I was impressed to see, within a matter of weeks, a budget involving an investment programme of €31 million and to see the ESB top it up with an additional €5 million. This means that in the first year of a just transition there are significant funds available. We now have a report that plots a path and recognises the major role the regional enterprise strategy and the midlands transition task force can play. The latter has been very ably led from within Offaly County Council. The opportunities and difficulties associated with the transition are identified in the report of the just transition commissioner. The strategy is being taken very seriously in that it is being implemented from the Taoiseach's office. We have drawn together the strands of government to ensure that we deliver on this programme. We are doing a lot. The Deputy could certainly say we could do more; I do not disagree with that. Obviously, 2021 will be a new year and we will have to make provision later this year.

On the European Green Deal, I engaged with the incoming German Presidency just today. It is determined to push ahead with both the climate Bill and the various elements of the deal.

The Deputy is right; until a financial framework is nailed down the just transition fund and some elements within it will not reach their full scale or be triggered. We will be engaging with the European Union to draw up the territorial plan necessary to trigger drawdown. That will be an important element across the European Union. For the first time in a long time, the European Union has a project with a genuine vision similar to the vision of the Union's founders. It has lost its gloss for many citizens in recent years. It is associated with austerity and so on. I believe, however, that this is an opportunity for the European Union to reassert itself. Many people are sceptical of the value of sharing sovereignty within the Union. I am a big supporter of it and I believe this will breathe life into the cause of those who support it. I know the Deputy's party also strongly supports this. I am optimistic about the prospects.

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