Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I wish him well in his time ahead and, in particular, with this climate action Bill. Most of the Members are fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead in this regard, but also the necessity of this Bill in ensuring Ireland becomes a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. The importance of this Bill cannot be understated. It is a clear signal of intent by the Government as to where it aims to stimulate employment, focus investment and how we reach our climate targets as agreed under the Paris accords.

I will focus on a number of specific areas today that warrant some attention and consideration. We understand the Bill recognises the special economic and social role of agriculture, but it also recognises that reducing emissions will, in turn, make farmers here more competitive and sustainable in the future. Our agriculture sector has among the best work practices in the world in terms of its agrifood offering. As Deputy Creed alluded to earlier, if Irish farmers do not continue the key work they do in this sector, then other countries with a far more inferior product and offering will pick up the slack. In that respect, everything needs to be measured and focused on bringing stakeholders with us. Just as we negotiated a fair deal, or a just transition, for those with peat and bogs in the midlands, we must ensure those engaged in farming receive similar treatment in terms of a fair deal.

I want to raise some issues on transport, which I think are worthy of raising. The transport sector accounts for more than 20% of our national emissions, with in excess of 51% of these emissions coming from the passenger car fleet. Under this Bill, there will be a focus on shifting to electric vehicles and alternative fuel technologies. We will also see a promotion of public transport and active travel initiatives which will also contribute to decarbonising society. Looking at my constituency, I know the Minister of State is aware of the efficiency of the Cork-Cobh-Midleton rail line which offers people viable public transport options but, unfortunately, on the northern side of the city, we are not as lucky with our current railway offering. I hope that with a renewed focus on public transport espoused in this Bill we will, in my lifetime, see the expansion of the rail line from Cork to Blackpool to Monard and on to Blarney. We can talk about the need to get people out of their cars and on to public transport but unless we offer something tangible and practical, we are only shooting ourselves in the foot in terms of meeting out climate targets.

I refer to Government initiative's such as the active travel funding and other grants under the town and village schemes and outdoors recreation grants, etc. While I have been engaged with a number of community groups and both local authorities in Cork in delivering some of these projects, we need to see a greater emphasis on what can be achieved by these relatively small, in budgetary terms, initiatives which have the capacity to dramatically enhance and change the transport practices of small villages and communities. I ask that we continue to roll out these successful schemes and that funding would be ring-fenced under carbon tax intake to ensure we can adequately fund these programmes in the future. These are not just words.

In the area in which I live, Dunkettle, I see first hand the transformative impacts of cycle lanes and greenways which have been facilitated by the State. Every week, hundreds and thousands of people can be seen walking and cycling on these routes. We are hopeful that in the near future, the NTA will allocate funding to Little Island and provide designated bus and cycle lanes in an areas which employs approximately 15,000 people. How Little Island, an area developed as a workplace for many years, is without such a provision, in terms of transport arrangements, baffles me but thankfully progress is finally being made on this front.

The next issue I would like to raise is waste water, an issue I have raised here before. We talk about the Environmental Protection Agency and the need for the State to provide appropriate legislation to take action against not just State agencies, for example, Irish Water for malfunctioning treatment plants, but also private developers. It is something we must look at as part of the wider discussion on climate action. There is still raw sewage going into Cork Harbour. The Carrigrennan waste water treatment plant, which is the largest one in Cork and is run by Irish Water, is in breach of its licence since 2015 in terms of its nitrate emissions. It is fine for us to speak about climate action and what we need to do as a society, but in some cases, State and semi-State bodies are not compliant with the regulations we are setting down.

That is something we as a Government need to take very seriously and keep an eye on because it is not acceptable that we are only asking stakeholders, whether farmers or others, to change what they are doing in their choice of transport and travel. It is fine for us to ask them to be compliant or change their practices but, at the same time, State bodies such as Irish Water need to get their act together in the case of Carrigrenan waste water treatment plant.

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan mentioned the wind energy guidelines. That is something we have trumpeted for quite a while and the review of those guidelines seems to have been on the long finger for quite a while. I raise it to emphasise that we are in favour of wind energy - or most of us here are. Some Deputies in the Independent ranks still believe the world is flat but the vast majority of Members are in favour of wind and solar energy. Communities up and down the country have been waiting for those guidelines to be published since 2015. We need to grasp the nettle now, publish those guidelines and give people some reassurance that the concerns they have about wind energy will be taken on board. That is all I have to offer today. I thank the Minister of State for his time.

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