Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We did try to make amends and I hope that we will continue to see Labour engage very positively on the climate debate. Deputy Whitmore is in the House. I do not want to pre-empt her contribution, but the Social Democrats are probably inclined to say that the carbon budget is not good enough and should go further. I hope I am not misrepresenting her position.

From People Before Profit-Solidarity, Deputy Bríd Smith is a valued member of the committee. I expect its position will be that we should also have a more demanding carbon budget. If anyone is saying we should not accept this carbon budget and that it should go further, I challenge them to show exactly how to achieve it. It is really important that we get beyond the rhetoric here and that we start to speak in numbers because this is an incredibly demanding carbon budget. Supporting a moratorium on data centre construction is a valid position to hold but how many megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent will that give us? Free public transport is also a legitimate position but how many megatonnes will that give us?

The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act requires us to get from around 60 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent down to about 30 megatonnes in the space of eight years. Stopping the construction of data centres and providing free public transport is all very nice to say, but it is not going to do it. If anyone is going to say that we have to have a more demanding carbon budget, then people need to show us their alternative climate action plan and their alternative carbon budget and let us scrutinise it. Let us look at the numbers. If they cannot show us then their credibility on the question is in doubt.

Earlier, colleagues mentioned the opportunity Ireland has around the climate action plan. I will not quote Robert Frost again but we are at a fork in the road in this country's energy policy.

We have a choice in the medium to long term to decide what our energy future is going to be. Voices in this House are calling for us to double down on how we did things in the past. Liquefied natural gas, LNG, is not the future for Ireland. We have so much renewable energy, especially off our coasts. If we are confident as a nation and believe we are world leaders - as we might be in the provision of data centres - then we can be world leaders in rolling out renewable energy and we need to hear that across this House. We need to hear that ambition and that confidence. The idea we would fall back on fossil fuel technology, especially in light of what we heard from the IPCC earlier in the week, is utterly ridiculous. We should not do it. There is an opportunity for Ireland, with the assistance of Europe, to become the global leader in the development of floating offshore technology in particular and the development of not just green hydrogen technology but a green hydrogen economy. It is a completely different type of economy, and that is what we need.

We need to learn the lessons of 50 years ago when we went through a similarly energy crisis, namely, the oil crisis. After the oil crisis the countries of Europe looked at how they might guarantee their energy security. Some countries were brave and innovative and developed the renewable energy industry we know today. Ireland sat back and it built a coal-fired power station. That has left us with many of the problems we have today. Let us not make the same mistake again. Let us develop a renewable energy industry, a green hydrogen economy and let us not be conservative. Let us become suppliers of green and clean energy to Europe, as well as meeting our own needs.

In the few minutes I have remaining, I will address the carbon tax. It is not the case the carbon tax is the sole pillar of the Government's climate policy. It is one important measure and it is a very important one. The increase amounts to €1.50 per month for the average household. This €1.50 per month provides €20 per month for those who are on the fuel allowance. It provides €12 per month for those on the living alone allowance and €12 per month for those in receipt of qualified child payment. If we are serious about climate then we need to get serious about the carbon tax. While I welcome Sinn Féin's endorsement of this carbon budget, I would like to see it change its position on the carbon tax because it is absolutely necessary for us to achieve our climate targets.

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