Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I very much appreciate the contributions of the various Deputies. That characteristic of listening to each other and coming to a common understanding of what we should do next is going to be essential in the development of a statutory just transition commission. I hear the various concerns from across the country, which are many, varied and valid. We have to create a system that is flexible, fast and effective. I agree with Deputy Hourigan's point that the example of the Scottish and Welsh Governments, which have established statutory just transition commissions that have such characteristics, gives us a model and an approach we can take as we go forward.

I will also reflect on what Deputy Bruton said in his contribution. He put in place a system with regard to the establishment of the just transition commissioner, Kieran Mulvey, and work has been done in the midlands in the last three or four years in respect of both the dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of Bord na Móna, which is now expanding and has a very bright future as it moves from brown to green, as its own strategy describes it, and the support and development of a whole variety of new enterprise community development projects, which have been funded through our just transition fund. These will bear real fruit and are a good example of how we can make this transition work in a way that is just and which provides prosperity, security and well-being for our people. The work there must continue, particularly in light of the application of the EU Just Transition Fund and the work of Offaly County Council and the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly with our Department and the just transition commissioner to roll out further funding and achieve further progress in that regard. That is critical.

The Government absolutely recognises that this highly important midlands project is only the first of the projects that will be needed to ensure a just transition in the climate change leap we need to make. In the climate action plan Government launched last October, it committed to the establishment of a statutory office for the just transition commissioner. We are now setting out to deliver on that commitment and to provide for that office. It is envisaged that approval for the remit of the commission will be sought by the middle of this year, as was committed to in that climate action plan. Following that Government approval, my Department and I will develop the general scheme of the legislation that will put the commission on a statutory footing. Preparatory work has already started on that. I will outline one of the aspects that I think is important, which goes back to what I said at the start about consultation and the involvement of a whole range of actors in society in addition to parties and individual Deputies in this House.

By way of the climate action plan, the national development plan and the Housing for All strategy, we have plans in place that have real substance and the right strategic direction and scale of ambition. However, our focus now must be on delivery. To assist that delivery and make sure it is accelerated, particularly in the coming two to three years, the Government is setting up a number of acceleration task forces or leadership groups within different Departments. This will help to ensure we apply some of the same flexibility and urgency we saw in how we managed the Covid crisis and Brexit to how we meet the climate change challenge. The acceleration and leadership groups will work in the areas of offshore wind, sustainable mobility, the heating of residential buildings, how we communicate climate action and how we manage our land use review, which is critical to the future development of forestry, farming, biodiversity protection and the development of carbon storage in our country. It also is my intention to establish an acceleration team to help us with the roll-out of the just transition change we need to make and the development of the legislation on the remit and scope of the just transition commission office.

Officials in my Department and I had a very productive meeting last week with Kieran Mulvey. I am very glad that Mr. Mulvey has agreed to stay on for an additional year to help us in this process and inform the work we are doing. He has the experience of the midlands project and, indeed, experience from his career in mediation, industrial relations and trade union activities in this country. The acceleration teams will need a wider focus. I am looking forward to meeting with the various NGOs and trade unions with an interest in this area, as well as the secretariat of the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, which has done extensive work in looking at best-case international practice as to how just transition commissions can be established and how they can work. We will also be working with other Departments on this. The Department of the Taoiseach will have a key role as a co-ordinating Department that provides oversight and real leadership, which will help the acceleration teams. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, other Departments and outside agencies will also be involved.

Critically, the first meeting of the national climate dialogue forum took place two months ago in Dublin Castle. It is based on a partnership model, with input from representatives of business, trade unions, NGOs, community organisations and the National Youth Council of Ireland regarding the approach we are taking to tackling climate change. Most people involved recognised that it was a very successful and useful meeting. The closing session committed us to come back in the summer months and to provide real progress in terms of how the acceleration teams will work. As part of that, I expect to be able to bring to the national climate dialogue forum and to Government the general scheme of the legislation, which my Department is working on, setting out the mandate, purpose and structure of a statutory just transition commission office. I want to listen to people's views because that is what works well in this country. As a smaller country, we have the ability to listen to different voices, in this House and beyond. I am looking forward to that engagement. The ongoing meetings of the national climate dialogue forum will allow us to provide updates and checks in terms of what is happening and what the just transition commission office is doing.

It is vital that we follow this approach and that there is social justice in the changes we make. That requires clear participation, listening and evidence-based research. As the Minister of State outlined in his opening address, the principles that have been set out for achieving a just transition are valid, well tested and need to be delivered. If there is not a just transition approach, the change that is needed will not happen quickly enough and we will not have public support. It is vital that the leap we make is towards a better system. This is not about technology for its own sake. We will not make it if it is just about emissions targets, critical as it is that we meet all of them. It has to be about moving towards a better system, for example, in transport. As Deputy Bruton said, it is possible to reimagine how we use materials and how we create a circular economy. It is also about reimagining how we see the future of Irish farming. Most of the people I meet in that sector recognise that the future is not clear enough for young people. We do not have a new generation of people going into farming. We are seeing ever greater intensification, larger holdings and a real threat and risk to the Irish family farm. I do not think we want that. As Deputy O'Connor mentioned, part of a just transition must be to look at what the future might be for Irish farming.

When it comes to energy, we know that the only just transition will be a renewable and efficient one. Relying on fossil fuels is at the expense of the people of our country and will lead to a hugely expensive, fraught and at-risk future. The energy transition will be easier than other transitions because we have an alternative in our own natural resources. Deputy Pringle is correct that there will be private sector involvement in that, but it will be State-led. The design and roll-out of the entire system will have to be led by the State because this is a transition that will take place over 30, 40 or 50 years and it will happen at massive scale. Only the State can do that. It can only be done, and it will be done, for the good and benefit of the Irish people. It will require a series of governments to take us in this direction, rather than being a stop-start process. That is why we need dialogue. We must listen to each other and have a sharing of understanding as to why having a just transition as central to this whole process is vital. I again thank the Deputies for their contributions.

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