Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to debate climate action and discuss the interdepartmental negotiations on sectoral targets. We know that the deadline is drawing ever close as weeks pass coming up to the end of this term in mid-July. Our global climate and biodiversity crises are existential and fundamental to our capacity to live and to the survival of our planet, but it is not all doom and gloom and we should never feel powerless. That is always an important message. We must ensure that there is always some optimism and grounds for hope. Resisting despair does not mean ignoring the alarm bells, however. Consecutive reports of the EPA and IPCC have provided us with a chilling prognosis but also a reminder that action is still possible to avoid a climate catastrophe. We have many of the solutions before us. Every day and every year we see positive changes with growing understanding of how we can roll out renewables, develop offshore wind energy and so on. From agriculture to transport, we know what we have to do. Today we reiterate our call for urgent action to be taken to ensure that we meet our ambitious but necessary climate targets.

The first Bill I published when I was first elected to the Oireachtas 15 years ago, in the Seanad which seems a long time ago in some ways, sought to impose a cap on Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions. It was the first Bill of its kind in Ireland. Although that took place relatively recently, it seems a lifetime ago in terms of understanding the urgent need for action to combat the crisis. Even 15 years ago, there was none of that sense of urgency at international level and there was a great deal more climate denial both here and elsewhere. It is good that we are today in a place where sectoral caps are being made a reality and there is far greater consensus on the science of climate change and the necessity to move swiftly to avoid catastrophe.

The IPCC is clear that we are currently on a path to exceed 2°C warming worldwide, which could result in enormous loss of life, livelihoods, biodiversity and food security. We hear chilling reports of the loss of species which is a wake-up call. This debate today must serve to refocus our energy on the urgent need to ramp up drastic climate action and to call for more urgency from Government. I will not waste this opportunity to express my frustration at continued attempts by some Members of the Opposition to derail climate action in Ireland. We saw the most recent occurrence of that in the House this morning when we debated a backward-looking, regressive motion on fossil fuels which the Labour Party is opposing along with others. I am glad that this is a more constructive debate this afternoon.

I am glad we will have sight of the Government’s sectoral pollution targets for electricity, transport, buildings, industry and agriculture before the Dáil breaks for its recess in July. However, I again express my frustration that, as was the situation before Christmas, we are right up against the deadline of a recess when it comes to scrutinising these important measures. We saw this before Christmas with the long delays leading eventually to publication of the annexe to the climate action plan that I and many others had been looking for to enable us to have more time prior to the break. I hope we will not see a repeat of the delays of the past and I look forward to engaging further with the Minister of State and his Department on this in the coming month. Can the Minister of State provide a commitment that we will see this announcement made in a timely fashion and not just in the last week of the term? In the spirit of constructive engagement, I ask that an open line of communication is maintained with Opposition politicians and other stakeholders in the NGO sector such as Friends of the Earth, even when the Dáil is in recess.

Since our overall limits for the decade to 2030 were passed by the Dáil in April, I am very grateful to activists, NGOs and others for commentary and support. During that debate in April, I noted the degree of back-loading of our reductions between 2025 and 2030. It underlines the need to ensure that between now and 2025, we meet those more moderate targets. The IPCC has been very clear that a small window of three years exists to meet those necessary targets and avoid disaster. During negotiations of our sectoral emissions, there must be an understanding that we are dealing not so much with targets but, more accurately, a floor beneath which we cannot fall. It would be morally unconscionable to pass the clear tipping points the IPCC has identified, which would trigger larger scale changes in Earth's systems and a loss of biodiversity. We know that only in the event that every sector meets the upper end of the ranges published last November will we meet the overall target in the climate law. The concern is that we are not currently on target to achieve this.

For example, we understand from recent media commentary that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is under intense pressure not to agree to pollution cuts of more than 22%. We need to be careful about all sectors meeting the relevant targets. The just transition that we in the Labour Party, as red greens, are calling for requires that those who are being asked to make the most onerous changes are aided and supported in doing so. In advance of the final publication of overall objectives later in the year, I ask that the Minister of State consider the questions asked by Friends of the Earth: Will the sectoral ceilings add up to no more than the national carbon budget passed by this House previously? Will the sectoral ceilings align with our 51% emissions reduction target for 2030? Will every sector do its fair share to reduce emissions or are other sectors being penalised for the foot-dragging of others? Will the Government ensure that any contingency fund of unallocated emissions budget is only used for sectors that are doing everything possible to cut emissions?

We seek to offer constructive Opposition. We support the ambitious but necessary climate targets and look to stand with the Government and all of those who wish to work seriously and genuinely and to engage on the necessary actions to achieve the survival of our planet. We want to stand together and work together to ensure that we do right by people in Ireland, not only of our generation but generations to come. We need to ensure that we do so by meeting our targets and working together collectively. In that spirit I thank the Minister of State and his officials for engaging with us in this debate but I hope we will see further engagement outside of this House and beyond July. I really look forward to seeing the publication of measures before the end of this term.

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