Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to contribute to the debate. This island is but a small dot on the world's surface but we have been part of the developed world since the first farmers cultivated lands around the Céide Fields and other communities constructed Newgrange and the other monuments in the Boyne Valley. The cultivation of the land and the building of homes and towns over the following 7,000 years of human activity did not affect our climate or damage our environment. It was only with the invention of the steam engine in the middle of the 19th century that we start to record small changes to our environment and effects on our climate. It was another 100 years before we started to see a noticeable increase in CO₂levels but over the past 70 years that rise, year-on-year, has been dramatic. CO₂pollution levels have increased by 43% globally during our lifetime.

Ireland has been part of this explosion in CO₂levels, with emissions per person reaching 13,300 kg in 2017, the third highest in the EU, just behind Bulgaria and Luxembourg, or 2.5 times the global average of 5,500 kg per person. To put this in context, it is suggested that I may have produced more than 70 kg of CO₂by travelling by car to the Dáil this week to carry out my parliamentary duties and returning home to Clarecastle at the weekend. However, I am now driving a hybrid car so I have started to play my part in reducing my carbon use.

We have all witnessed the effects of carbon use on our climate. The past decade in Ireland has been the wettest in the past 300 years, with average rainfall rising from 912 mm in 1971 to 12,024 mm in 2018. Ireland's average temperature varied by 8.2°C in the 1960s but this had increased to 10.1°C by 2018. Over the past five years, Ireland has experienced its wettest winter and its hottest summer on record. We had the stormiest winter in 147 years, as well as our first taste of a near-intact Atlantic hurricane. We are designing and constructing almost 100 flood protection projects throughout the country to protect our towns and cities from severe climactic events, including in my own constituency of Clare. Significant projects are planned along the River Shannon and its tributaries, such as the River Fergus, to protect homes and businesses in Ennis, Shannon and Springfield, Clonlara.

Scientists have set out many strategies to correct the situation and put the global community back on the best path to restoring our climate. Put simply, the increased carbon that we created over the past 70 years must be reserved in the next 30 years, before 2050. While some see this as dramatic and harsh, there is no doubt that we have to take numerous small steps as well as many large steps for the good of mankind, our environment and our climate.

The main changes seem to be in our use of carbon fuels and energy to provide heat, light, transport and the production of consumer, industrial and food products. I want to express my reservations about the effects of these measures on two particular sectors, namely, the aviation sector and the agricultural sector. The aviation sector is a major component of the economic activity in County Clare and the entire mid-west region, with Shannon Airport at its hub. The aviation sector has been signalled as a contributor to increased CO2 levels. I am aware there are many research projects in developing electric and solar powered planes, but these projects are going to take many years to come fully into operation. We may need to see increased investment in these projects, along with reduced targets in the early years, while retaining the overall targets for 2050. I believe that with the possible development of these new modes of air travel, Shannon, as an aviation hub, will have a bright future into the next century.

These measures are necessary in order to protect Shannon Airport, the aviation-related industries based around Shannon, and the tourism sector for the entire west coast. While talking about Shannon, I must also mention Moneypoint power station and its transition from a so-called dirty coal-burning power producer in a deepwater facility to be becoming a major base for renewable energy with the building of two major wind farms off the coast of County Clare. It will see Ireland's first move into the production of green hydrogen fuel with a view to exporting the fuel from the deepwater berth at the facility in the Shannon Estuary. There is also the possibility of the manufacturing of wind turbines at this facility for wind farms and possibly the manufacturing and exporting of turbines to all corners of the world. This is a good example of how County Clare is making a major contribution in transforming from the old technology to the new grain economy and the opportunities it can bring to all of us.

Regarding agriculture and the agricultural sector, there has been much shouting and lecturing of farmers in this whole process, but we must remember that farmers have been the greatest environmentalists of our land and that they have nurtured their land for many generations. We must also recognise that the Irish dairy sector produces the most environmentally efficient dairy products in the world. The same can be said of the Irish beef farmer. Irish farmers have responded positively to changed circumstances over recent decades, especially since we joined the EU. I have no doubt that Irish farmers will respond positively to the measures we need to take in the coming years, but we must engage with the farmers on the ground. We must create a greater awareness and understanding of the measures that we need to take in order to preserve our world. Farmers do not respond well to lectures from those inside the M50, taking absolute positions against their livelihoods. I have no doubt that with an improved awareness programme the agricultural sector will respond positively. Perhaps we need to create greater awareness and understanding of these measures among the whole community. In the next Bill on this subject, we should include an environmental education programme not just for our schools, as they are far ahead in their response to and thinking on climate change, but one that is focused on the general population.

I want to compliment the work of the Citizens' Assembly on climate change. While I know it was given valuable resources and education on this subject before coming to its conclusions and report, I suggest that we must do something similar with the whole population. I also want to mention oil and gas exploration, and gas fracking, about which I have received a large number of emails, seeking the inclusion of a ban on these in the Bill. While I understand that these are not included in this Bill, I would appreciate if the Minister, in his concluding remarks, would confirm that these measures will be included in the programme for Government and will be dealt with in separate legislation.

The framework for change has been set out. The fewer number of steps we take now, the greater number of steps we will have to take in the future to meet our targets in 2030 and 2050. I commend this Bill to the Members of the House.

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