Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to speak on this important issue. As a member of the climate committee I admit I am very worried we are running out of time. Worry is the only sane and sensible reaction given what our world is facing with climate change and its advance. According to the IPCC report we are facing major capital cities being underwater. We are facing unprecedented heatwaves. We have already seen these across Europe, with 1,000-year-old trees being burned and animals and people fleeing for their lives. We have increasing storms in the north Atlantic and even with all this water we are still facing water shortages that are going to impact the availability and lead to the displacement of people across the world. We will see the extinction of a million species of plants and animals. As the UN scientists said yesterday, it is now or never. It is all down to us, that is, to politics and politicians, to make that not happen. We decide the budgets, the limits and the laws that will decide our planet's future and that of every human and animal life form that lives on it. We politicians have the power to obliterate human civilisation or to save and though it will not be popular or comfortable, it definitely will not be managed by latté-levy sound bites, because the responsibility to save it is ours and ours alone. Big business, the big emitters and the big polluters that lead to the big heating and the sea-level rises all operate within the laws we make and uphold. Even here at home, the capitalist delirium has taken hold. You could be accused of treason for mentioning we should have a moratorium on data centres. While we have workers sleeping in tents, there is a multimillion euro property development on land not too far from here that is going to be underwater in around eight to ten years, based on the current emissions trajectory. That is not just going to happen in Dublin but in many capital cities. Flood risk rises as the sea rises and we already know the devastating damage that can be done by a single storm surge. I cannot mention rampant capitalism without mentioning the armaments industry, the war in Ukraine, the war in Yemen and other ongoing wars. The carbon emissions that come from the arms industry are disgusting.

Carbon budgets are always important but there is great urgency now. Sinn Féin supports the carbon budgets as prepared by the CCAC and this is consistent with our position on the climate Act and our support for emissions targets from 2030 to 2050. Though we support the targets, we have grave and growing misgivings about how they will be reached, and I will talk about the carbon tax. It is due on 1 May, which is May Day, the workers' day. The Government can spin it any way it wants but right now people do not have an alternative energy they can choose. How can you incentivise people to change their behaviour when their radiators are already off, their lights are off, the shower is banned and driving is confined to work and school? All this is happening in a country that has made a meme about turning off the immersion. The Government has let the cat out of the bag and the carbon tax is seen as a revenue-raiser and not as a means of behavioural change because the increase in costs has already caused a behaviour change yet the Government will not stop the forthcoming carbon tax increase. The people affected by this energy poverty are not packing up their EVs, loading the electric bike in the back and heading off to their holiday homes to measure them for solar panels. They are frantic about how they are going to deal with another cost hit deep in a cost-of-living crisis. Therefore, while we support the carbon targets we will also support the people who are most affected by these decisions and Sinn Féin will make no apology for that.

I am also worried bad policy and decisions will see us miss those targets. In the process we will not only accrue fines but abdicate our responsibility to humanity. People always talk about the planet, but the planet is grand. In fact, humanity is really the main problem on it. We are living on this planet in a parasitic way and we must learn how to live in harmony with it. We will continue to bring forward our own proposals, as with green hydrogen. I have co-sponsored a Bill with Deputy O'Rourke to create a national strategy on it. We need a strategy to rein in our ambitions. It is not going to happen with just ourselves. We agree on the carbon destination though we have a different view on how to get there. However, there is no doubt we must get there.

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