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

Under the European Commission's Next Generation EU package, it was proposed that the budget for the EU just transition fund would increase from €7.5 billion to €40 billion over the period 2021 to 2027. The proposed allocations to all member states would then increase as a result. Through a series of parliamentary questions I tabled on this matter, I have been able to establish that as part of this proposed increase the allocation for Ireland was set to jump from €29.9 million to €176 million. We now know this is not going to happen and there is a potential loss of €146 million we will have to do without.

The European just transition fund has in fact been slashed and with it any real prospect of delivering outcomes that can combine the retention and protection of jobs with the goal of protecting our environment. This has been my major concern throughout this entire process. I have said all along that the balance has been entirely wrong for the midlands, especially for the workers and families. Workers with mortgages and young families in County Offaly have been and will continue to be the ones most directly impacted. The vast majority of workers and families I meet now associate the transition process with the prioritisation of vague and aspirational green agendas over the creation of real and sustainable employment and, most importantly, the protection of their livelihoods. Is it any wonder that they think like this? The just transition process was supposed to take place over the period up to 2030 to give everybody a fair chance to adjust. That has been dramatically shortened to just 12 months. Bord na Móna ceased all peat production as part of its enhanced peatland rehabilitation scheme in June after months of legal battles initiated by idealistic environmentalists and a High Court decision to strike down harvesting exemptions provided by the previous Government.

I understand €15 million has been made available under the July stimulus plan for the bog rehabilitation scheme and that the Bord na Móna workers were made aware of this but we need a substantial amount of money, far more than €15 million. Despite all the rhetoric about increasing supports to make the transition process fair and protective of jobs, we have seen practically no evidence that this is happening on the ground. Indeed, there is much frustration among communities in counties Offaly and Laois and in the wider midlands area. An example of this can be seen in the peat and horticultural contractor sector. They invested in new and expensive machinery in the expectation that the 2020 season was progressing, only to be told without any consultation that the harvesting was not going to happen at all. We know from the chief executive of Offaly County Council that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has advised that legislation is required at national level to allow the council to distribute funds that are being provided. This is despite the fact that Offaly County Council is driving the transition process and the just transition commissioner is based in the county.

Does the Taoiseach accept that the entire process is now at risk of descending into complete dysfunction and that it is utterly failing to protect and serve the very communities and jobs it was supposed to help save?

See this speech in context