Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In terms of the overall context, it had been both the general and majority view of this House, as articulated at various Oireachtas committees, and of the Government that we need to address the issue of climate change and that we also have to have clean air for the health of the people of the country. I ask the Deputy to confirm that this is also his view.

The introduction of the smoky coal ban in 1990 by the then Minister, Mary Harney, was a radical move that dramatically improved the health of the citizens of Dublin and other cities. It is an issue that we need to engage with in this House because there are some towns around the country where reports from experts on respiratory health are categoric about the damage being done to people's health because of smoky coal. I do not think that we should give any succour to the smoky coal sector any more in any shape or form. The fact that we are now in 2021 and that ban has not been completed is an indictment of society. That is my view.

I will ask the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to communicate with the Deputy about other fuel types. He is developing a clean air strategy which will be open to public consultation and is situated in the context of climate change policy more generally. Within that is the concept of just transition. It is not our objective to run down Bord na Móna, but the opposite. Our objective is to make Bord na Móna the agent and a key stakeholder in achieving our climate change objectives in the future and creating new forms of employment, rewetting our bogs and allocating additional resources to the areas in which Bord na Móna worked so effectively in the past. The retrofitting scheme was initiated in the midlands and surrounding counties as part of the just transition programme. Nothing will be forced on people immediately. There is no legislation for this session. We need to embrace the climate change objectives of the country, of this House and of Europe. Climate change is a reality. I have no doubt that it is the existential threat to our society. Part of addressing that is the protection, conservation, nurturing and restoring of our biodiversity. That is key.

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