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

I commend my colleagues of all parties and none on their work on the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action under the chairmanship of Deputy Leddin. We have done significant work on the policy and legislative framework for this climate action plan and on a great many other topics that we have debated in the committee with great ambition. I note that Deputies Leddin and O'Rourke are present, along with other Members who have made a significant contribution to the process.

I was in Glasgow for COP26. At the conference, we heard from small island nations for which climate action is not an abstract discussion but one about the future of their islands and their existence as nations. It puts into stark contrast the amount of change that this State must undertake. We must use our considerable influence on the global stage to ensure that other countries, especially wealthy, industrialised countries like our own, make the significant change that we have outlined in this climate action plan and in the agreements that existed before COP26, including the Paris Climate Accords. It is regrettable that larger nations such as Russia and China did not engage properly with COP26 and that nations, including Australia, India and China, weakened wording in the final days of the conference. I am a glass half-full kind of person and I believe there is still opportunity within the agreement. We can ensure that we hold nations to account. We can use our position on the UN Security Council, albeit for a short period of time, and our influence to ensure that other nations hear our voice.

In the context of this climate action plan, the increase in our ambition with regard to renewable electricity is clear, with a goal of 80% of electricity generation to be renewable by 2030. The training offered through the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is a sign that we want to make the necessary changes within our society, especially with regard to retrofitting. I listened to the Members opposite, as I have for many years. There was much criticism and very few suggestions for change. They said that it is somebody else's fault, including big business or wealthy people, when they can be a significant contributor to the solution, which ultimately pays for the retrofitting schemes and other proposals contained in this climate action plan through taxation. We have a substantial amount of work to do.

There is one area where I am a little sceptical. I was sceptical when the former Minister, Deputy Bruton, announced it and I am equally sceptical now, but not for the reasons set out by Deputy Boyd Barrett. That area is the target in regard to electric vehicles. With the best will in the world, I cannot see us hitting 1 million. From a policy perspective, we should not be aiming to hit a target of 1 million electric vehicles. Replacing the fleet like for like is not the right step. I listened carefully to Professor Caulfield when he appeared before the committee some months ago and it led me down a path of research. We need to be putting more emphasis on the delivery of mass transit options and on getting our infrastructural plans past the drawing board and into construction quicker than we have been doing. I will not reference MetroLink because it is a very poor example, but there are other proposals put forward in recent years that have come to fruition such as, for example, Luas cross-city. There are other projects that we need to prioritise.

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