Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin supports the objective of cutting emissions but it is clear that the Government's approach is not working and that new ideas and climate action policies are needed. The current proposals are inequitable. Much of the Government's climate action plan puts a burden on ordinary workers and families, particularly family farmers and rural communities. Those living in rural Ireland find it difficult, if not impossible, to access services, whether employment, education or retail, without using a private car. A large proportion of our greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the transport sector. If we are to meet our overall emissions reduction target by 2030, we need a serious increase in investment in our public transport services to reduce the dependency on private cars and to accelerate the roll-out of rural bus services. We need to cut fares and make bus and train stations wheelchair accessible for disabled people. We also have to ensure there is sufficient capacity on existing services. We need to have a public service that is reliable, affordable and safe, with sufficient capacity. I particularly want to mention the 109X route from Cavan to Dublin. That route is oversubscribed nearly every day when going home. People are left waiting at the side of the road for hours for a bus to come eventually to bring them home.

We encourage people to buy electric cars but it is too expensive for those who most need to do this. Those who have the oldest, dirtiest cars, who most need to replace them, cannot afford to do so. We need to consider looking at grants for second-hand electric cars to be rolled out.

The grants to retrofit houses are generous but only if people have money in the first place. More investment in the warmer homes scheme is needed, as well as in local authorities, which inform me that they do not get even nearly enough funds to retrofit their own supply of houses. Some of those houses are quite old and most need to be retrofitted.

Afforestation can play an important role in meeting our emissions targets. However, the Government is not doing enough to foster this sector. The programme for Government set a target of planting 8,000 ha. Only a quarter of that target was reached last year or the year before. There are ongoing problems with the licences. Farmers and private forestry companies have been deprived of licences to plant trees for some years now. The Government needs to look at and deal with those issues. It needs to support farmers in dealing with ash dieback instead of allowing a British company to come in and practically giving it land to invest in our country. Farmers and forestry companies here should be given the first option to invest.

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