Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I promise the Minister that I will continue to remind him about the report from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine because it is urgent that that evidence is published. It will dramatically change the focus of climate and energy investment in this country.

I wish to correct a couple of interpretations the Minister has tried to give that are inaccurate. This money is in a bank account. He tried to insinuate that if we do not introduce this legislation, the €10 million a month in the account might be lost. It will not be. It is being lodged in a bank account every single month. It is true that the quicker we can start spending that money the better, and this legislation will allow that to happen, but it is not the case that we will lose the revenue.

The fund is significantly oversubscribed, and that is the intention. It is a competitive fund. Not everyone will get something out of it. The idea is that the best proposals, that is, those that will have the greatest impact, will be funded. In rejecting the amendments I have put forward, the Minister is excluding valuable opportunities to improve air quality and health outcomes for people.

The historic approach we took on legislation in the House before Covid-19 has to change dramatically. A pandemic is spreading across the world which specifically targets vulnerable people with chronic pulmonary obstructive disease or asthma. The Bill provides us with an opportunity to hit two birds with one stone. We could improve air quality and reduce our overall emissions, as well as improving health outcomes and protecting our population against Covid-19. I cannot understand why the Minister is rejecting the air quality amendment I have put forward.

Another of my amendments deals with carbon sequestration. The growing of grass in this country provides significant opportunities that are far less controversial than planting regions of the west of Ireland with trees. Irish farmers are, thanks to our atmosphere, good at growing grass. Can we do some research into examining how we can utilise grass in this country to sequester carbon and create a sustainable income for some farmers? Surely that is something that would benefit our overall climate targets. This type of investment and research is not happening through traditional mechanisms. It will only happen if the climate action fund drives that forward. My amendment is required to make that happen.

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