Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is no getting around it - this is landmark legislation. Temperatures are high and we are on Report Stage on the back of a Committee Stage that took place last week. We in opposition are disappointed with how the latter element went. In advance of Committee Stage and this debate, I looked back over my Second Stage speech. Knowing what was coming and that no further changes would be made, we could just have gone through Second and Committee Stages in late April and been two months closer to the carbon budgets and climate action plan, which are the real meat that we hope will help us reach our targets. This is framework legislation.

Last week's Committee Stage and the amendments now under discussion on a just transition have left a sour taste at the end of a process that started well. As I stated on Committee Stage, the Bill's pre-legislative scrutiny stage was a wonderful example of how our Parliament could work well and constructively. The Minister played a leading role in that and the Opposition in both Houses played a good role. It was very good work. Unfortunately, we cannot say the same of the past two weeks.

The real work that will have to be done is not included in the Bill. It will follow afterwards. The Bill is the framework, though, and it was an opportunity to include what we needed to in terms of the just transition so that the most vulnerable, those on the fringes, those experiencing poverty and those communities that are most at risk from the dramatic changes that we will have to make across all sectors of society are not left behind.

So far, some of the debate has pitted one sector or community against another, but our greenhouse gas emissions are spread across a number of sectors. It is not exactly an even spread, but it is even enough to show that we will all have to make significant changes. The Minister understands this. Agriculture is a large emitter of greenhouse gases. Transport is also a large emitter of greenhouse gases. I live in Dublin, one of the most congested cities in the world. Sometimes it is as high as third place on that list and has regularly been in the top 25 in recent years. I am ashamed of that. The congestion is not down to buses, but to cars. We need to make significant changes in Dublin, our major cities and our large towns to reduce emissions. That will require considerable lifestyle changes that may be uncomfortable for people. Energy consumption, including home energy consumption, is another large greenhouse gas emitter. This cuts across all communities, urban and rural.

We need supports to be in place if the transition is to be just. If the language in the Bill was stronger and had the amendments that were presented by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Community Law & Mediation and the Jesuits been included, we would have much more comfort about what was to come after the Bill and would be much more confident that people and communities, be they surrounded by buildings or fields, would be covered when measures were introduced through carbon budgets and climate action plans.

We are going into this feeling a bit uncomfortable and shaky because it is obvious to anyone in the House that, if 80 Green Party Deputies made up the Government side, the Bill would look different. We know that the Green Party's Government partners drew a guillotine down on the Bill after its pre-legislative scrutiny stage and said that they would go no further on the just transition or climate justice because doing so would not have suited them or their interests. As exhibited during the recent level 5 restrictions, they want to continue building data centres. I mentioned this on Second Stage and it was referenced today by Deputy Bríd Smith. Ireland is on track to have more than 100 data centres in four or five years' time. The energy consumption of such centres is off the charts. Nothing is comparable. We will scramble to produce renewable energy just to power these behemoths of energy consumption on the fringes of our cities and towns. They do not create many good jobs, unionised jobs or just jobs. They have a voracious appetite for water and this country has significant water security issues coming down the road.

Everything falls under the umbrella of a just transition when we go into the detail of these issues. We will be back debating the nuts and bolts of this but we feel an opportunity has been lost to take a global lead, with countries like Scotland and New Zealand, in how we define a just transition and climate justice, and how we make them central to our policy and decision-making. Unfortunately, this has not been done. There is one reference to a just transition and it is far too weak. That is where we are coming from and that is why there is a sour taste in many of our mouths for the final Stages of this Bill.

There is more to come. We may need amending legislation following this. We hope that the Minister will engage constructively on that. He has not spoken yet, but I assume his stance is as it was at Committee Stage, in that no amendment will be taken. There could have been a 20-minute, a 20-hour or a two-week debate on this stage. The fact of the matter is that nothing will change based on what was presented after Second Stage and we are where we are. The fight and the battle will move to the next part which is the climate action plan. It is a shame that we are where we are on those elements, notwithstanding that there will be a significant shift after this Bill is passed, which cannot be lost in the heat of discussing the amendments that are not accepted.

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