Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise with the Taoiseach the just transition. There has been strong, understandable and righteous criticism of the weakness of references to a just transition in the draft climate Bill. We hope we can amend and strengthen that on Committee and subsequent Stages.

There is little faith that it will be strengthened. I want to highlight what happened in Lough Boora last week. A local man, Pat Barrett, built up a bike rental business over the past decade. A contract has now been awarded to a Dublin company by Bord na Móna. A just transition, if it is to work and to be believed, needs to ensure local people have decent, fair and sustainable jobs. In the midlands, Bord na Móna, which has been the focal point of discussion regarding the just transition for the past couple of years, has awarded a contract to a Dublin-based company when a local company had been built from the ground up and was doing the work. How can the Taoiseach expect people in the midlands or anywhere else in the country to believe the Government is committed to a just transition when we see such things happening in places like Lough Boora?

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