Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be more than happy to receive written responses to any questions if there is insufficient time.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue. It is significant and concerning for many midland counties, including County Offaly where we wait for the job losses to occur at the end of this year. It is not a good prospect, especially as we are currently in the middle of a pandemic. It is already difficult for many communities. To add to this we in the midlands also have job losses coming.

I acknowledge and welcome the publication of the first interim report of the just transition commissioner. There is much to welcome in this report, not least the sense of urgency that has been brought to it in attempts to ensure a genuinely just and fair transition takes place. That has been one of the key challenges in this entire process, along with a sense of contradiction that has emerged.

While the whole-of-government approach at present is about de-escalating the flood of job losses across this State that has arisen in recent months, the very opposite appears to be happening in the midlands. The whole transition process was due to be drawn out until 2030, and people accepted that and were adapting accordingly. Now it is down to a mere 12 months, if we are lucky. The commissioner himself noted this in his report. There he referred to the perception that no account was taken of the long-term impact on workers, their families and the communities, and the reasonable and legitimate expectation they had that the use of peat as a fuel in these plants would be phased out by 2030. It was also noted that management and unions, primarily in Bord na Móna, now have less than 12 months to adjust rapidly to this new reality and to scale, map and, insofar as it is possible, present a clear pathway for continued employment, reskilling, redeployment, retirement and voluntary redundancy. There are still a substantial number of Bord na Móna workers left in limbo regarding voluntary redundancy. It is totally unfair. They are not receiving communications from Bord na Móna. There needs to be some level of intervention out of fairness for the workers in that regard. If it is possible, the Minister should intervene urgently.

The commissioner accepts that there are many formidable challenges in relation to the just transition. My key concern is that all of these challenges around employment retention in the midlands, in Offaly in particular, were already acute and severe before the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. Now we have a report and the outlines of a pathway forward but within a radically changed and uncertain economic climate. What assurances can the Minister give that the already limited and modest financial requests put forward by the commissioner will be honoured and, more importantly, implemented urgently? Will such commitments transcend the lifetime of this Government or will we be back here again in a few months with the Green Party insisting that the transition process needs to be speeded up further?

Within the climate action fund under Project Ireland 2040, there is a commitment for the allocation of €500 million from 2019 to 2027 to support initiatives that contribute to a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. The first call allocated funding up to €77 million across seven projects and was expected to leverage €300 million in total investments. Has that expectation of €300 million in investments been realised? For the second stage of the fund, a call for expressions of interests was launched earlier this year, with 190 expressions received by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment when the call closed in March. Will the Minister provide details of how many applications have come specifically from midland counties? Where are these investments taking place and are they creating any jobs?

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