Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the words of Greta Thunberg, our house is on fire. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, we are less than ten years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. The programme for Government commits to ban the registration of new fossil-fuelled cars and light commercial vehicles from 2030 onwards while phasing out diesel and petrol cars from Irish cities in the same period. If we are serious about climate change, why is the groundwork for planning these changes not in the climate action Bill? Those targets are less than nine years away, yet nobody is talking about the elephant in the room. How are we going to charge electric cars when few local authorities are planning for public chargers? We need to incentivise businesses to provide chargers in a scheme similar to the shopfront improvement scheme. The State must do more if we are to avert this crisis. It must do more than just buying carbon credits. I am concerned Ireland has spent somewhere between €68 million and €150 million buying carbon credits recently. I would like to know exactly how much we are spending and over what period. Are these carbon credits ethical?

Why are we buying carbon credits when we should be spending this money on sustainable measures that will provide a just transition for those who will struggle when further carbon taxes are introduced on 1 May? Those carbon taxes disproportionately affect our older people and those who live in rural areas, and that needs to stop. Fuel poverty is not acceptable in this day and age. We need to reward those who are serious about climate change. We should be installing solar panels on our public buildings, such as hospitals and schools, and providing proper grants for homes to do the same. We need real steps that will make a difference, not airy-fairy aspirational stuff that means nothing. We need simple steps that will make a real difference. Beehives should be deemed as livestock units for the purpose of CAP payments. Hedgerows should be improved and proper value attached to carbon sequestration properties. Our house is on fire and it is about time this Government woke up and did something about it.

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