Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I rise to support amendment No. 20, which I understand is in this grouping. The reason we are so exercised about the just transition is that we all, from our various perspectives, feel strongly that, for workers in the sectors where there is a transition to be made, that transition must be a just and fair one. The State should recognise that by ensuring a funding line into it and supporting it using all the mechanisms of the State that can be employed to ensure the transition takes place in a fair manner. I refer to agriculture in particular because if we are moving towards this transition, there must be some recognition that farmers may have to change. If funding lines such as schemes and supports through CAP or the European Union are changing, that transition must be made as just and fair as possible. People involved in agriculture must be part of that process. They need to feel they have ownership of that process and that it is not foisted upon them.

The reason I am so exercised about the de facto deletion of any reference to just transition in the Bill - save for one, which is not substantial - is that I was on the Joint Committee on Climate Action with the current Minister before he became a Minister. Deputy Eamon Ryan, as he was at the time, played a massive part on that committee and people like me supported the ask that just transition be reflected in the report arising from the Citizens' Assembly deliberations. That is why it is very hard to understand why now, in framework legislation, there is no reference to the just transition or any substantial definition of it. Even if one were to take the Minister at face value about the legislation he is promulgating and accept that there will be sectoral plans dealing with agriculture, transport and all the other areas affected by climate action, there should still be some guiding definition of the just transition. Then, in agriculture, for instance, when devising sectoral action plans for afforestation, the principles of the just transition would have to be applied to make it as fair as possible for people who operate in that sector. That is the logic of the amendments on the just transition and that is where we are coming from. I cannot understand why the Minister has taken such a stern line on this issue. It is something the Green Party put forward in its own just transition Bill when in opposition. I do not understand why it is demurring or withdrawing from it now. We have not heard from the Minister what his plan is regarding this issue.

We put down amendments on afforestation targets because year after year, we are missing targets on afforestation. We have heard about this chapter and verse. Deputy Fitzmaurice is one of the strongest voices on forestry licences in this Dáil and we have always supported him when it comes to the plight of people in the forestry sector. I am dealing with cases relating to that issue in my own constituency.

My point is that if we had a proper target for afforestation and a proper, fit-for-purpose forestry service to enable forestry licences for felling and growing to be procured in a timely fashion, that would feed into this climate agenda. It is not being considered in this legislation, because I am being told the idea of having a sectoral target for afforestation is a charge on the Exchequer. This is the new tool now being used for legislative purposes to block amendments. I understand the ruling of the Chair of the committee and I always abide by those rulings, as I do by those rulings made by the Ceann Comhairle, because I respect parliamentary tradition and the rules laid down by this House. However, there comes a time when it is necessary to push back against what I call a tool being used to block what we consider very effective and genuine amendments to encourage the planting of more trees and feed into this agenda more effectively. When seeking to amend the legislation to that effect, though, we are told that there will be a charge on the Revenue to have a sectoral plan. That defies logic in my book.

I think today is Bloomsday. I am not a Joycean scholar by any manner or means, but I think we would all have admired Nora Barnacle for the way in which she was able to marshal Mr. Joyce. One day, she asked him why he would not write books that people can read. I think that sentiment would appeal to some of us here. We might not be Joycean scholars, but we can certainly appreciate the global impact James Joyce had in respect of Irish literature. It is not, however, to everybody's taste. In the same vein, I ask the Minister to write legislation that everybody can read, write in the just transition element as an abiding principle and then work through all the sectoral plans.

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