Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the Deputies who have contributed to this debate and for the approach they took in doing so. I did not hear anyone who was fundamentally opposed to the Bill or to what we are looking to do. What I heard reflects what is out there among the people of Ireland, namely a desire for us all to contribute and to be helped in doing so without anyone pointing the finger. Deputy Harkin put it well when she said we need to bring people with us and show how we can all collectively do this. Throughout this debate a number of Deputies mentioned people from rural Ireland, including small farmers who previously might have been blamed for climate change. They are not to blame and they will be the solution. They are the people who are on the front line in making this change.

A number of Deputies asked that we would set out, whatever about the intention of the Bill, what exactly it means in practice and what will come about in the real actions. I want to try to answer those questions and set out what some of those changes will be. There are various sectors that we will have to design and set targets and plans for, and energy is the key one. Critically, we must stop the use of fossil fuels. It is relatively clear that burning those fossil fuels and the release of CO2, methane and other greenhouse gases into the environment are the source of the problem. Therefore, we tackle the problem at its source. We stop the use of those fuels and provide better alternatives. It has to be a better alternative. We have to design this in a way that enriches our people and does not impoverish them. The reason that is achievable in our country is that we happen to be in a part of the world that probably has among the richest resources in renewable energy, which will be the centre stone of the switch away from fossil fuels. We live in a windy part of the world. The Gulf Stream and the trade winds that come up from the south west across our country give us the ability to convert that into the new power systems that will dominate this 21st century and give us an advantage, not just in the energy system but also in the industrial system, which will use that power in turn.

What does going zero carbon by 2050 mean? It means we will go renewable and do all the clever engineering and power management systems work to make sure that is a better, more secure, more competitive, cleaner, healthier and more local energy economy. That is compared with an economy that is depending on us importing fossil fuels from distant parts of the world to burn here and to see that pollution threaten all our future. The alternative is a better future and it will be switching to renewable energy. We will not be alone in that. Something significant has happened since this Bill was introduced by Government, namely we have seen the United Nations commit to a similar level of change and target to what we have done. It is showing a similar level of ambition in the development of renewable energy. We have seen the European Union committing in law to a similar level of change and transition. We have seen our neighbour, the UK, similarly committing to do that. We know the Chinese, the Japanese and other Asian economies will do the same. All are going to make this switch to this non-fossil fuel powered future.

That gives me real confidence that the economies of scale, technological development and research and innovation everywhere in the world will be in this direction. We happen to be based in one of the areas in the world with the greatest resource in that base power supply. We have real expertise and capability in the engineering and deployment of that. I heard the chief executive of EirGrid say today that it has just gone beyond what anyone expected. It is now the case that 73% of instantaneous immediate renewable power can be used at any one time in our system. That is world-beating. It is ahead of what anyone expected we would be able to do and we will push that to the limit. In doing that, we will have real economic expertise which we can share with the rest of the world.

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