Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Climate change is a real issue and climate change undoubtedly has to be dealt with. However, it has to be dealt with fairly and justly. The term "just transition" is in the Bill but the truth of the matter is that the people who are affected do not trust the Government on what it says about a just transition. I will tell the Minister why they do not trust the Government.

The fact of the matter is rural Ireland has suffered radically in recent decades in this country. We have a city state developing in this country. The size of Dublin is way out of kilter with the rest of the country. Even in Britain, London is considered too big for the rest of the country but London does not make up half the proportion that Dublin makes up of this country. Some 48% of the investments that happen in this country happen in the greater Dublin area.

The only reason we have seen any population growth happen outside of that in counties such as Monaghan, Cavan, Longford, Westmeath, Offaly, Laois and other counties is because they have become a commuter belt. We have tens of thousands of people leaving counties such as Meath every day and going into Dublin to work. They are living in a commuter hell. All the governments of the past 20 years have said to those people in those counties that if they want to live there, they had better commute two to three hours every day. We can see it in the population because if you are a young person or part of a young couple and you want to get a university-type job, you cannot get it in regional or rural Ireland. You must move to Dublin to get the job but you cannot live in Dublin so you have to live in the commuter belt.

You can see that in the age profile that is prevailing in this country. The average age of people living in Killarney is ten years older than of people living in Balbriggan. There is a massive and unending migration of people towards the greater Dublin area. The reason for that is the infrastructure has been going into that area in recent decades. The reason the infrastructure has been going in there is the political establishment is more and more Dublin-based. I listened to the former Minister, Deputy Bruton. His party, Fine Gael, is becoming a city party. Its centre of gravity is south Dublin. There are constituencies throughout this country that will never again vote for a Fine Gael Deputy because of what it has done to their constituencies.

If you look at the farming community, the average wage of a farmer is at least €10,000 less than the average industrial wage, but if you are a beef farmer, the average wage is about €10,000 and most of that consists of subsidies. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party in government have allowed a situation to happen in the beef sector whereby the producers are selling a product at below the cost of production to factories and supermarkets that are making supernormal profits out of that. Those three parties have allowed that dysfunction to happen. According to Teagasc, only 37% of farmers in this State can make a living off the farm alone. Another 33% of farmers can only make a living off that farm because they are working off the farm. About 30% of farmers are being driven into poverty and debt. Every year there are fewer farmers in this State.

When the people of the midlands and much of rural Ireland hear the Government talk about just transition, they simply do not believe it. Why would they? Actions speak louder than words and the actions of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party when they have been in government in recent years have let down rural Ireland and farmers radically. You need only look at the services that are being pulled out of rural Ireland. Post offices and banks are being closed and pubs and schools are closing. There are parts of this country where the schools are being closed and they are building new schools in Dublin. What economic sense says that a school should be closed in a rural area and a brand new school built in Dublin? None at all. Dublin is overheating as a result of this in terms of accommodation, transport and access to schools etc. There is a radical imbalance in the development of this country and it is being driven by 20 or 30 years of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party governments.

How in the name of God, therefore, would anybody trust the Government when it says it will deliver on this and on just transition? Farmers look at what is happening and they see Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil signing deals such as Mercosur, which brings beef from countries that are felling the Amazon thousands of miles to this country at lower prices than beef is created here. At the same time the Government tells farmers we are all in this together in reducing the level of greenhouse gases that are being produced. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael also call for CETA to be passed so that Irish farmers have to go into competition with Canadian farmers in these products.

The evidence is clear and the only way the Government could convince rural Ireland and farmers it means business with regard to just transition would be to grab the beef sector by the scruff of the neck and force the factories and the supermarkets to operate in a fair supply chain, where the profit is fairly delivered over the three components of that supply chain. It should also start focusing on infrastructural development. One of the biggest infrastructural developments that will happen in the Limerick and mid-west will be bringing water to Dublin. What about bringing people or jobs to the mid-west?

I have no trust in this Government when it comes to just transition and I have no doubt most of the farmers and people living in rural Ireland do not trust the Government either. This Bill and much of Government policy is being built on the backs of the people who can least afford it, the people who have been stuffed for generations by this Government.

That is one of the reasons I voted against this Bill on Second Stage and will be forced to vote against it again. I support measures that will fight against climate change but they must be fair and just.

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