Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

A just transition is vital to climate action. Without an assurance of social justice, workers' rights and commitments to address poverty, any environmental measures run the risk of furthering social and economic inequalities. The amendments in Deputy Whitmore’s name, and similar amendments that include a stronger and more nuanced definition of just transition, should be enthusiastically supported by the Government. I cannot think of any reason someone would oppose a clearer definition of a fair transition in the legislation, not to mind a Bill being championed by the Green Party.

Social and environmental justice must go hand in hand. There must be substantial societal and economic transformation if we are to have any chance of playing our part in addressing the climate and biodiversity crisis. These transformations present considerable challenges and opportunities. It is essential that the State commit to shielding and supporting communities from the potential upheaval caused during the transition.

Sectors and communities that depend on fossil fuels will need support to move to more sustainable sources in their homes, farms, businesses and transport. People want to be more sustainable but they need help in making those necessary changes. We need progressive measures to support low-income households and rural areas. A carbon tax is a necessary tool to reduce emissions but it will only work if there are alternatives in place.

Poor and non-existent public transport in rural areas and a lack of active travel infrastructure mean that people have no choice but to use cars. It does not matter how expensive petrol or diesel is, people will still need cars. Without alternatives, carbon taxes are merely punitive and help to build up resentment and anti-climate science rhetoric.

We need schemes that support workers in moving to new types of employment centred on low carbon. We need carbon taxes to proactively fund the retrofitting of homes, not just reimburse those who can afford it. We must pay upfront for retrofitting, whether people own their homes or are in social housing. We need to reinstate funding for the development of recycling centres and expand their number so that there is at least one civic amenity centre close to the population it is meant to serve. These centres should be free for recyclable materials.

In agriculture, we need far more ambitious schemes that foster sustainable practices. We need to move away from an intensive farming model that demands farmers produce more and more for less and less, all the time eroding the quality of the land. Farms need support in doing this. Policies pursued by many Governments for years have pushed for a more intensive model, and farmers are still losing out. We need to flip that around. Farmers need to be incentivised to protect the landscape upon which the future of the industry depends. These incentives could range from the carbon sequestration capacity of so-called marginal land to rewarding forestry planting and biodiversity enhancement.

Earlier today, I highlighted the limits placed on the results-based environment agri pilot programme, REAP, scheme. It excluded more farmers than it supported and did not recognise the value of gorse and heather areas. We need these schemes to be ambitious and innovative.

There is a constant and false narrative around farming and climate change. A lot of that comes from this House. Politicians vigorously defending farmers insinuate that they have personally done something wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. I do not know any farmer who actually goes about his or her everyday business in an attempt to release as many emissions as possible or to destroy as much biodiversity as possible. Government policy directly incentivised how we farm. For example, a Department official comes out to my farm every year and docks us money from the area aid payment wherever we do not have livestock on the land. The perception that farmers desperately want to stock more and more livestock units to the hectare is frankly ridiculous. I have never met anybody who goes about their day-to-day business trying to stock more and more cattle per hectare and import more and more feed from the other side of the world.

Government politicians making statements that climate action will decimate Irish farms blatantly pits farmers against science and environmentalists. A very sad result of this narrative is that the communities that would be most affected by climate change are the ones that are most scared of climate action.

We welcome climate action legislation but it is disappointing that such a ridiculously short period of time was left for Deputies to submit amendments. It is more disappointing that an even more ridiculous and shorter period of time was provided for debating those amendments. Clearly, we will not get to most of them. The near absence of a fair transition in the legislation is beyond disappointing. I implore the Government to reconsider and ensure a clear definition of a just and fair transition is added to the Bill.

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