Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ireland has set itself the ambitious targets of a 50% reduction in carbon output by 2030 and of carbon neutrality by 2050. The recent IPCC report again outlines the significant challenges that are facing mankind and our need to prevent global temperature increases above 1.5°C over the coming years and decades. We need to significantly change our consumption habits and our energy use if we are to have any hope of achieving these goals set out in the climate policy. We must play our part, but climate goals must be implemented in the fairest way possible to ensure that no parts of our economy are targeted through unjust climate emission reduction targets. I am referring here most pointedly to the agricultural sector and specifically to the national herd.

The Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, mentioned in his introduction the plans to reduce chemical nitrogen through the use of multi-seed pastoral land sward. I fully support this policy. In fact, I accompanied the Minister of State on a visit to Waterford Institute of Technology, WIT, and specifically, to the agricultural area of WIT. Significant research has been ongoing there on the development of pastoral land sward, with the stated intention of reducing chemical nitrogen and emissions. Despite the Minister of State’s aspirations to developments in this area, I can tell him that a funding application to further enhance the living laboratory project, which is ongoing at WIT and which is central to the pastoral land research there, was refused funding by our national research bodies. They are obviously working to a different agenda than the Minister of State.

In the south east, where the agrifood sector is the most significant economic driver, and where dairy, beef, lamb and tillage production are economically and culturally intertwined, I would like to see actions to back up the Minister of State's statements around developing options for reducing agricultural emissions. Multi-seed sward, reducing chemical nitrogen and fertilisers, rotating feed stocks, wet lands and tree planting all have a part to play in reducing farm emissions. These must be fully considered before any sectoral targets are announced that would reduce our national herd. The Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, mentioned Government plans to introduce a new forestry plan. I am not sure what a new plan is going to do, considering the deficits within the existing plan that have been outlined to the Government for over two years and that have not properly addressed the situation as yet. We can all agree with more afforestation. We can all agree with more carbon sequestration. However, how is this to be achieved if we cannot manage the regulatory environment in over two years to help deliver it?

The Minister of State also highlights the need for Ireland to get moving on its renewable generation, particularly on wind. I have mentioned in the House before the slow development of the maritime area regulatory authority, which will be charged with overseeing the planning of our offshore sea area. Nothing has been announced by way of wind port investment for Rosslare. We have all heard how Ireland may have up to ten times its national required wind energy generation offshore. It is just waiting to be tapped on our eastern, southern and western coasts. However, who is going to tap it? Where is the evidence that we in Ireland are trying to create a skillset in understanding manufacturing and deploying offshore wind energy? Despite all the talk of the vibrant potential industrial sector opportunity that could await for this country, where is the evidence that we are developing science and understanding in this area, that we are implementing in our colleges and our institutes of technology, that we are incentivising research and development grants to engineering companies in this area to pursue wind science and development? The truth, as far as I can see it, is that we would sell the family silverware yet again by allowing overseas conglomerates to enter our maritime area, to develop commercial wind generation here and to run off and make profits that will be taken overseas. They will maximise the export potential of our wind, while paying us a pittance in licence fees, all the while charging us up the wazoo for the energy generation that is lying off our shores that we have failed and are failing to capitalise on.

I see no urgency to radically transform how we do business and governance in this country, how we strategically plan, how and who we make responsible to deliver on our stated goals. We can talk electric cars, wind generation, hydrogen fuel manufacture, biogas and organic digestion, yet we have implemented nothing nationally to adopt any of these technologies to date. We can talk retrofitting of houses in the midst of the construction crisis, all the while ignoring the complete lack of workers available to deliver on these projects.

The climate action plan can be simply referenced as the need to significantly reduce national production of greenhouse gases. Deputies such as myself have agreed in principle to support the actions of the Government in a national climate agenda. I, for one, have had enough of the copious hot air generation that has surrounded much of these debates over the past 20 months. We now need to see real intent and a visible, balanced plan with real delivery targets and real accountability for those charged with implementing it. We must do a climate action plan, but we must do it fairly and we must ensure that it takes account of the most vulnerable in our society and in our country, and that it does not damage into the future Ireland’s ability to compete internationally.

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