Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree that we face a huge challenge. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Yesterday's report from the IPCC is a stark warning to all governments and to all parliaments that it is going to be impossible to put this matter to one side or defer action. The first item on the agenda today was the carbon tax, as if it was the be all and end all of the increases in fuel energy when we all know it was not and is not. The overwhelming increases in oil and gas have been caused by our coming out of the pandemic and the war. We need honest debate about these things and we cannot always falling back on what is politically convenient in the short term. Short-term political convenience will not save the planet. We passed legislation in this House.

It is interesting that people in the bottom four deciles of income are protected from the carbon tax. Some people are better off because all of that tax is given back in the form of increases to the fuel poverty allowance and energy efficiency measures. We need those resources to drive on retrofitting in our homes. That money is not going to come from fresh air. There is not an endless kitty in the Exchequer, as some people would like to believe. We need honesty and consensus on this issue, and to stop playing politics with it all the time. I am not saying the Deputy is playing politics but whenever the Government does anything, someone in this House wants to knock it back.

The legislation has been passed. We have been in government for 18 months. There is going to be an enormous challenge to meet our targets for 2030, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 51%. The decisions we take today are critical. We cannot put them off. We will deal with this energy crisis but as we do so, we must protect the edifice we have in place around climate change. That is my point. We should try to get consensus in this House and stop playing politics with this issue. That is what we should do if we are sincere about climate change. I am open to working with all parties in the House on climate change because it is an existential issue. The least we can do, as a Parliament, is to make sure that we give the generations coming after us some chance of a quality of life. What awaits future generations is truly horrendous if we continue on in denial.

We will be establishing a just transition commission. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is extending the contract of the current just transition commissioner, Mr. Kieran Mulvey, to the end of the year, and a full commission will be established. A great deal of progress has been made in respect of responses, particularly in the midlands. There was frustration at the acceleration and delivery of projects in that area but that is a very important part of it. The carbon budgets will happen. There have been intensive discussions with various Departments in respect of the different sectors and the contributions they have to make to carbon budgets arising from the legislation.

See this speech in context