Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate, although I somewhat echo the comments of Deputy Bruton on the retrospective look being a little too far back. I hope we can amend that in future years.

I had the opportunity to attend a youth climate action debate in the Seanad Chamber. It was a feature of climate action committee’s outreach on the subject. I am sure the Minister of State is aware of it. It was a reminder of the anxiety, worry and urgency that young people feel about climate change.

Throughout the debate they highlighted not only their fears of being the generation to bear the burden of our impact on the climate but also the hope, ingenuity, and ambition of young people to tackle this issue and to deliver sustainable change within our society. It is a supreme task for every Member and we must deliver on it but to do so, we have to be willing to face the realities before us. The Government is delivering progress in a range of areas with respect to climate action. However, I believe that if we are to achieve our goals in the years ahead, we must remove some of the barriers that are still holding back our full potential.

Wind and solar energy offer huge potential on this island and to all our communities. We must ensure that our planning framework, our taxation system in respect of such projects and our capacity to have a fully modern electricity grid, matches our ambition. To that end, I look forward to the development of the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, among other initiatives. This agency will speed up the process of delivering critical offshore wind energy, or rather, it will speed up the administrative process that will allow offshore wind energy to be developed. Solar power must not be forgotten in this debate either. There are unintended taxation consequences on families, particularly on farming families, that act as a barrier to the installation of wind farms, which I sincerely hope will be addressed in the budget.

I also eagerly await the development of the hydrogen sector in this country. Many of our European counterparts, as I am sure the Minister of State will be aware, have developed extensive plans for the use of hydrogen and the role it will play in their countries in the coming years. We are well behind them. We, too, must ensure that we are at the forefront of this emerging energy sector. It will allow us not only to store electricity in cases where battery technology is insufficient, but it will also make a considerable contribution in reducing emissions in sectors such as haulage and shipping.

As we have seen in recent months, the security of energy supply is essential. World events and, indeed, weather events have the ability to disrupt this most vital of services. The knock-on effects can impact on every home and every sector of the economy. In this context there needs to be an honest and open conversation about alternative energy sources, such as nuclear power in Ireland. The Celtic Interconnector, when it is operational, will link the electricity grids of Ireland and France, the latter of which derives approximately 78% of its electricity from nuclear power.

This means that some of the energy used in Irish homes will eventually be powered by nuclear energy.

This is a conversation we should have. I do not suggest we jump feet first into the delivery of nuclear energy, but we should have that conversation in preparation for a potential decision in the future. The subject of nuclear power has, at times in our history, been a controversial one. However, a great deal has changed in the intervening time in terms of technology and safety and, indeed, when it comes to views within the political sphere. It is a conversation worth having. By engaging now, albeit in an exploratory way, we can begin to develop the potential for this type of energy in Ireland. The need for such engagement is compounded by progress being made with nuclear fusion technology, notably under the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER, programme, to which Ireland is a significant contributor.

In addition to this conversation, we need concrete action on the use of biofuels and the role they can play in bridging the gap as we phase out fossil fuels. We need to consider how we can use anaerobic digestion, biomethane, pyrolysis and other technologies to provide a cleaner way of powering our society in a fossil fuel-free world. These technologies could form part of an overall rethink of how we approach the research and development sector in Ireland. We are a small country but, over the decades, we have attracted some of the largest and most ambitious companies in the world to our shores. This is in no small part a result of our skills, population demographics and education levels. We must consider the future of sectors such as environmental technology, green technology, energy technology and others. By supporting a thriving research and development sector in Ireland, we can develop the skills and expertise the world will not only need, but demand, for decades to come. Other countries are moving in this space and seeking to capture the markets that will be a global revenue driver as we look to the future. A redoubling of our efforts in this field could not only create jobs but grow our exports, bring new investment to Ireland and create a new level of wealth in our country.

It is important to highlight the transition that is taking place within our transport sector. Yesterday, there was a demonstration outside Leinster House of the new electric bus, 120 of which will be on our roads in the early part of next year. In the next five years, 800 such buses will be on the road. I am informed that some 20% of the vehicles will operate outside Dublin, which is to be welcomed. These changes are most welcome and, together with the electrification of DART and other train services, will begin to reduce emissions from this sector. The implementation of the BusConnects strategy must also be delivered without undue delay. The changes to bus network in Dublin can provide a positive impact on commuter experiences if they are fully implemented in a timely manner.

However, we still need to encourage passengers to use public transport. I urge the Minister, as I have done previously, and as I urged the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, last night, to push for the extension of reduced fares, both for young people and across the board, beyond the end of 2022. This will result in an even greater number of people leaving their cars at home. We have had this debate in the House previously and I must admit I was sceptical about the provision of free public transport within the EU. I certainly support greater levels of subvention for public transport if it means getting more people out of their cars. It really will make a positive contribution towards our target of a 51% reduction in transport emissions by 2030.

I appreciate the efforts being made to encourage greater use of private EVs, such as the planned deployment of fast charging points around the country. This will remove a barrier to consumers choice as we aim to phase out the sale of diesel and petrol engines. I particularly welcome the publication of an EV strategy by my local authority and three others, which are the first documents of their kind in the history of the State. Under the strategy, 1,650 charging points will be installed around Fingal and Dublin city and county. This will greatly benefit existing EV users and encourage prospective users, ultimately complementing the Government's aim of having 1 million electric vehicles on Irish roads by 2030. This target is significant and will be hard to achieve. I hope the ambition is there to realise it. By working with local authorities, we can put our best foot forward in terms of the provision of public charging facilities.

With regard to removing barriers to people, particularly those in middle-income brackets, moving away from older internal combustion engine, ICE, vehicles, a radical rethink of VRT for new electric vehicles should be considered. I am not sure whether this has been suggested in the House. Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to taxi drivers being given a €25,000 grant towards the purchase of an EV. This is a very generous grant considering the price of most of the vehicles used as taxis is €50,000 to €60,000. Unfortunately, the entry price for EVs in Ireland is very high. It is artificially high and much higher than elsewhere in Europe. The Minister knows why that is. We have the authority to change it and we should do so.

With regard to enhancing our biodiversity, there is scope for cross-departmental co-operation on developing the skills necessary within the sector. This extends to land use expertise as well as restoration and design of biodiversity areas. I spoke to a person in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage yesterday who told me that only some local authorities have appointed biodiversity officers. Fingal County Council is one of the fortunate ones but there are is a significant number of local authorities around the country in which this role has not been filled. We need to develop the demand for that level of expertise, not just within our third level institutions but within the sector, if we are to bring the necessary expertise to these shores.

I stress the need for continued stakeholder engagement across the board. If we are to achieve a just transition, we must continue to engage with communities, civil society groups and industry stakeholders the length and breath of the country. If we are to have any success in meeting our targets, we must bring people with us. We need to respond to the demands of the communities that are discommoded by the removal of certain industries. There will be changes required in our daily lives, whether we live in rural or urban areas. However, there also will be opportunities for investment and growth for all communities throughout the country. By talking to people in local communities, we can build the broad social coalition that is needed to tackle the issues that face us and the generation after us.

I have been listening to this debate from the beginning in my office. The broad criticism of the Government for anything and everything serves very little purpose in the context of climate action. The only truly positive, meaningful and thought-provoking contribution from the Opposition benches this afternoon was from Deputy Bacik. Perhaps this is something the electorate needs to think about in the context of climate action and the policies this House and the Oireachtas committee of which I am a proud member have delivered. That committee has made a significant contribution to the overall debate. We have a monumental challenge ahead of us. Our children will not thank us for engaging in the pointless bickering that takes place in these Houses. They will only remember the consequences of our actions.

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