Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I will always welcome talking about climate in this Chamber but today I wish we had the implementation plan for the climate action plan. The clue is in the title; we need to see action. It is not just me or other Members of the Opposition who are saying we need to move from talk to action. It is also being said by the Climate Change Advisory Council, CCAC, and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. Hopefully we will have statements again when the implementation plan is published because that is going to be very important.

I also welcome the fact that the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works was in the Chamber earlier talking about adaptation. Oftentimes, we forget adaptation when we talk about the climate. It is clear that climate change is happening. It is happening now and it is happening in Ireland. A major contribution must be in how we deal with and adapt to the changing climate and in preparing communities to deal with what is coming down the road.

I only have six minutes, unfortunately, so I will quickly go through my key points. I have repeatedly raised, in this Chamber, my fears about the Government meeting the targets it sets. While the plans are very thorough and are welcome, we need to see the actual targets being met and the delivery of these measures, and that is key. The climate action plan talks about taxation policy. I was very disappointed that the Government did not take on board the Social Democrats' proposal of putting a zero-VAT rate on solar equipment and services. That was a real opportunity the Government missed. This is allowed for under an EU directive and the Government should have introduced a zero-VAT rate for solar. I again ask the Minister to reconsider investing properly in solar for communities and to look at the Social Democrats' policy on that. It would involve large State intervention when it comes to rolling out solar panels for houses across the country. It would help people dealing with their electricity bills, help with the pressures on our grid and help with our climate policies. This is very important.

I would like to see someone with biodiversity experience on the CCAC. We cannot deal with climate and biodiversity separately. They are two issues so conjoined they need to be dealt with together. I understand there is not a biodiversity or ecologist specialist, particularly a terrestrial one, on the CCAC. There may be a marine biologist but there should be a greater focus within that committee on biodiversity.

Today, I want to primarily talk about just transition, on which the climate action plan contains a large chapter. When the Government talks about climate action, it continually refers to just transition and how it is important to bring communities along with us when dealing with climate and introducing climate action measures. In fact, the climate action plan states that the Government will "maximise employment opportunities, and support persons and communities that may be negatively affected by the transition" to a zero-carbon economy.

The plans by Coillte to partner with an international investment fund to plant forestry in Ireland, as a climate initiative, absolutely flies in the face of the whole concept of just transition in Ireland. The Government is using its funds through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF. It is subsidising this partnership between Coillte and a UK investment fund. Grant aid will also go to this investment fund to enable international investors to buy up land and profit from it. That will, without doubt, push up land prices for farming communities across this country. Coillte has said it does not believe this will happen. Without a doubt, it is going to happen because there is only so much land in Ireland. If UK investors are subsidised by a state government to purchase land, it will only push up prices.

We need this Government to use some of the €5 billion in surplus this year to invest in rural communities, local grassroots climate action, our climate future and biodiversity. If we offshore this, we are essentially facilitating a land grab by international investors. It is similar to what we have seen in housing policy Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have overseen over the past number of years. When it comes to health, we see prioritisation of large corporations and now, yet again, we will see this when it comes to climate action. It is not good enough. I am pleased to hear some of the backbenchers in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael talk about this as well. I hope the Minister of State listens. I understand this is not primarily the portfolio of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, but it is a major issue. It is a climate action issue and the Minister needs to get involved. It is obviously the area of the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, as well.

This plan cannot be allowed to happen. We need to invest in rural communities. We need to assist people who will be disadvantaged by climate measures we need to take. Without a doubt, it will be very difficult for our rural and farming communities to deal with this. The Government will expect changes of them which they will have to implement and such changes will impact them financially and socially unless the Government supports them. This is the very antithesis of supporting those communities. It is supporting international investors to take land away from them. I ask the Minister of State to have a conversation with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and to sit down with the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and knock this plan on the head. It is not how one deals with just transition or climate action within local and rural communities.

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