Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This climate action plan is extremely ambitious, notwithstanding its implementation, which of course is where rubber meets road. It sets ambitious targets from here to 2030 and out to 2050. That begs the question for Members of this House of how we envision that future in 2050, 30 years hence. How do we envision that future in different sectors of our economy and society? For example, in transport, do we just imagine another lane on the M50 and continued congestion in and out of our cities? Alternatively, do we envision a different transport future in which we have a connected rural Ireland, quality public transport and active travel networks that help our children move independently around our towns and cities?

In agriculture, when we think to 2050, do we still see watercourses that are saturated with excess nitrogen, ever-increasing intensification and a monoculture in our fields and forests, or do we see something different? Do we see a true origin green in our farming, where we still produce the highest quality of food, while promoting biodiversity and farm family incomes?

On housing and planning, what type of communities do we want to build into the future? Do we want atomised and car-dependent communities or sustainable communities with quality public realm and warmer, more comfortable homes?

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 was an essential first Act on that imagined path towards the 2050 we want to create. It is heartening that 129 Deputies in this House voted in favour of that legislation. The climate action plan sets out a further roadmap, with 475 individual actions laid out. The Opposition claims the plan is lacking in ambition, which is good because I want to go further faster. I want to see implementation. However, if the Opposition wants more ambition, let it lay out its vision of what 2050 looks like.

On transport actions in the plan, although I do not propose to go through 475 individual actions, we set out to better balance movement priorities within urban areas and thereby transition the built environment from one that is vehicle centred to one that is people centred. I am less interested in autonomous vehicles and much more interested in autonomous children. We will implement an enhanced rural transport system through the delivery of Connecting Ireland. This project is now out for public consultation. We are actively encouraging people to engage constructively with it to improve the routes in the plans - there is no beating local knowledge in this regard - and help us move away from car dependency. Another action is to continue the improvement and expansion of the active travel and greenway network, as well as to have a coherent and connected national cycle network strategy. This will ensure that kids can get to their school independently, older people can walk safely or cycle around their own communities and our towns and cities are not choked with fumes, noise and unsafe streets.

Under agriculture, we have numerous actions. I will pick three. The first is to increase the current area under organic production threefold and more. The second is to use chemical nitrogen and fertilisers more judiciously to help farmers reduce input costs and keep the good of those inputs on their land. The third is to promote ecosystem restoration and conservation through payment for ecosystem services and investment in actions that increase carbon sinks while promoting biodiversity, for example, in our woodlands, bogs and hedgerows and through soil management.

In improving homes, the programme sets out to deliver necessary increase in upskilling, reskilling and apprenticeship supports for residential retrofitting. This is a huge jobs opportunity-----

See this speech in context