Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It must be exhausting being on the left and in a constant state of outrage. What Deputy Barry left out, of course, is Dáil motions are meaningless. You might as well go out on the plinth and give a press conference.

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to debate this particular issue. Throughout history there have been many times when the world has come close to ruin, and on this Continent we have seen the horrors of war tear the fabric of society and engulf the globe in death and destruction. The threat of nuclear annihilation, for instance, dominated geopolitics for decades. Economic crises plunged nations into depression. War, nuclear weapons and economic crises are a product of human endeavour and can be stopped or prevented through the goodwill of everyone on this planet. Such events underpinned the creation of the United Nations and the development of the European Union, in which Ireland proudly participates, but climate change is different. We risk letting the impacts of climate change slip beyond our control through our desire for growth and expansion.

The world has known of the impacts of our actions on the climate for decades now, yet we are the first generation to begin acting on this knowledge at a national level. The ambitious goals and targets set out in this country and in the international community are noble and attainable but we must act now. We cannot afford to lose any more time. The cost of the international community missing these goals would be catastrophic. Young people in Ireland coming home from school about now will witness climate disasters in the decades ahead that until now belonged in the realm of fiction. We owe it to them and all those who come after to deliver them a legacy of responsibility, action and achievement.

This Government is committed to these ideals and the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development Acts are groundbreaking legislation that exemplifies Ireland’s commitment to providing a future for all peoples. I spent a great deal of time working on it myself with the climate committee and I am very proud of the report that came from the committee which informed the Department and indeed Government of our ambitions for that legislation. Our commitments to retrofit 500,000 homes by 2030 will have significant benefits from creating jobs, ending fuel poverty in Ireland and, most importantly, it will dramatically cut the emissions produced in Irish homes every year. The installation of heat pumps and smart metering across the State will also contribute to this endeavour and create a new era of home energy in Ireland.

We have ambitious goals that will revolutionise the production of energy and of electricity. It is the ambition of this Government to reach 70% renewable electricity by 2030 and we are making real progress on this front. In 2010 just 15% of our electricity came from renewable sources. By 2019 that figure had risen to 36% and preliminary reports show that in 2020, despite Covid-19, we managed to attain 38%. We must do everything in our power to foster growth of renewable energy in Ireland including investing in wind, solar, wave and tidal energy as well as cutting the burdensome requirements companies are required to go through to develop this sector.

The passage of new legislation and the further development of policy in this area is essential. The Government must remain cognisant of the need to ensure we have the labour force to carry out these vital projects and the infrastructure necessary, without which we will struggle to align our ambition with our ability.

We must also clarify our own policies, particularly in the context of peat production. Quite rightly, there has been confusion over recent reports of imports of peat to Ireland countering a long-held tradition of peat production in Ireland. While not all boglands are retrievable, many on the islands are but importing a tiny national requirement for the horticultural sector, thus producing even more carbon emissions, is not the answer.

Encouraging greater uptake of electric transport will further enhance the country's attempts to become carbon neutral. This ranges from growing the number of electric cars and vans on our roads to electrifying our public transport network. Investment in capital projects such as MetroLink and Dart+ will provide us with clean alternatives to existing transport options. We can achieve all of these things and many more. I do not claim that it will be easy or that it will be a smooth transition but it can be done. To achieve this, we need every home, business, Government Department and company to work together to realise the change that we must see. By doing so, as we have done so often in the past, we can make an outsized impact on the wider world. We can show the way for countries around the world and ensure that when the spotlight of history is shone upon us, we will not be found wanting.

By its very nature, climate change reaches into every policy area and housing is no exception. We have ambitious plans to build hundreds of thousands of homes in Ireland but we must have joined-up thinking when it comes to Government policies. Concrete, for instance, is a major contributor to emissions. In that context, the construction industry must consider environmentally friendly ways of meeting our climate action responsibilities while also meeting the need for significantly increased housing supply.

Our role at the United Nations affords us a unique position during one of the most crucial periods in the fight against climate change and it is incumbent upon us not to let this moment pass. A ramping up of our engagement with our allies in international organisations will allow us to drive home the values we have stood for and for which we continue to fight. The Government must lead by example by ensuring that we meet our own targets.

A great majority of the Irish people wants to see a profound change in how we deal with this problem so that we deliver real success on climate action. Increasingly young people are anxious about what kind of future they will have and the implications for their lives. This touches almost every aspect of their lives from where they choose to live, the kind of work they do and even whether they have children. Key to the success of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 will be a deliverable and clear climate action plan and I look forward eagerly to the publication of that plan in the near future. The plan will build upon the valuable work done in 2019 when Fine Gael published its first climate action plan.

We all recognise the severity of the crisis, which is not a crisis of one nation but of all nations. In such a scenario, it can be overwhelming and individuals may not know where to start. Indeed, some governments in the world face similar quandaries, as do some sectors in Irish society. Despite the complexity of this crisis, through bold action, progressive policies and vocal engagement in international settings such as the UN, we can provide a more hopeful future and bring about real change.

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