Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As a member of the Joint Committee on Climate Action, like Deputy Farrell, I have a particular interest in this debate. The committee spent much of the past year examining and improving the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill before it was passed in July. The Act creates the legal framework and sets out the actions that must be taken to ensure we deliver on our commitments to reduce total carbon emissions by 51% by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The Oireachtas has done its part and passed the legislation. The challenge now is to make progress on implementing the legislation to ensure Ireland meets its international and moral commitments under the Paris Agreement. To achieve our 2030 targets, we need to move quickly and take steps now. I would like to see a greater sense of urgency, particularly on larger projects. I accept that the Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the implementation of a range of initiatives but efforts must be redoubled because the clock is ticking.

Last year, during a debate with the Minister, I called for public transport projects such as MetroLink, DART+ and Luas upgrades to be fast-tracked. It was disappointing to hear comments this week about potential delays. People accept there will always be issues with large-scale infrastructure projects but to suggest that they could be delayed until 2032 or 2034 is not good enough. The Minister needs to take a far more hands-on approach, particularly on public transport. Agencies will follow his lead and there must be a far greater sense of urgency from the top. Equally, we need to see progress on the BusConnects project, which involves the redesign of the Dublin Bus network. We were promised new bus routes and higher frequencies and there is an urgent need for these to be delivered.

However, even if we achieve our 2030 and 2050 targets, a large element of climate change is locked in. We must plan to take measures to mitigate the impact and safeguard our people and our national infrastructure. The Minister will know I have expressed concerns about the impact of the forecasted rise in sea levels on the DART line. We have seen the DART out of service on several occasions in the past few years due to flooding and this is set to increase. Urgent action is required. We need an integrated national plan for flood prevention around Dublin Bay from Sandymount in the Minister’s own constituency of Dublin Bay South, through Booterstown, Blackrock, Monkstown and Seapoint to Dún Laoghaire Harbour and even further south from there. This section of the coast is extremely vulnerable. As part of any flood prevention measures, we should use the opportunity to complete the Sutton to Sandycove coastal promenade and cycleway, known as S2S. This project would open up our wonderful coastline to everyone while also protecting homes and safeguarding the DART line. This is nothing new; the project has been in the pipeline for over 30 years. In fact, the himself was one of the original champions of the cause and I hope he will include this project in the revised national development plan next week.

I welcome the comments of the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Ossian Smyth, on the circular economy. This must be accompanied by concrete measures to support the sector and consumers. Reducing VAT and other taxes for this sector in budget 2022 would be an encouraging start. Equally, the Government must do more to support energy microgeneration. At the very least, every new school, Garda station and public building should have a microgeneration facility but I want to see this go much further. When will we see a plan to allow microgeneration operators to access the national grid? Points about solar panels and other measures on farms in Europe were well made by Deputy Cahill earlier and we need to see action on this front too. I am very concerned about the impact the crisis in the forestry sector will have on our ability to meet our 2030 and 2050 targets. We urgently need a national plan to get the sector back on track and encourage farmers to plant trees.

On housing, we must move quickly to retrofit homes. A commitment has been made to retrofit almost 500,000 homes but we need to see tangible measures in budget 2022 on this front. The Minister’s announcement on the allocation of €57 million for community energy projects is very welcome and we need to see more action in this area. Fuel poverty is a real issue for too many families, particularly those on low incomes and the elderly. The recent increase in energy costs will create hardship for many families this winter and we need to see significant action in the budget to help these families. We also need to consider ramping up innovative solutions, such as the initiative being provided by companies like EnergyCloud which uses surplus wind power to store energy by heating water in homes, thus helping to reduce fuel poverty.

It is clear, having listened to Deputies across the House, that there is great support for the implementation of the climate action plan, for retrofitting homes, facilitating microgeneration and improving public transport, particularly MetroLink, light rail, BusConnects, and coastal and inland cycleways like the aforementioned S2S. I hope the Minister will take this sense of urgency on board ahead of the national development plan and budget 2022 being finalised.

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