Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I begin by thanking Friends of the Earth for the copy of The Climate Book. Local members crowdfunded to send a copy to each Deputy. It is a very informative book, which I find myself dipping in and out of. One of the chapters is called "Why Didn't They Act?" and the conclusion is that people in positions of power and privilege refuse to acknowledge that climate change is a manifestation of a broken economic system. This needs to change and it needs to change urgently. We live in a country where the top two richest people have more wealth than the bottom 50%. With this kind of inequality, a just transition is just a pipe dream for most people. It is certainly a pipe dream for most of our older people. Half of Irish homes are rated D or lower in terms of building energy rating, BER. Age Action Ireland - not Sinn Féin - estimates that more than 300,000 poorly-insulated homes are occupied by older persons, making them especially at risk of fuel poverty. More than half of the estimated almost 600,000 older person households have low home insulation and many older persons cannot afford the cost of retrofitting. We urgently need big changes in transport, agriculture, electricity and buildings. As the UN climate science body put it, we need "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society". I do not see the required urgency from this Government. The Rubicon has been crossed and this Government is allowing big businesses to burn our boats.

We in Sinn Féin have plans to address the climate crisis. There are massive carbon savings to be made in transport. We need to expand school transport and bring rural transport into the 20th century. We need to incentivise electric car ownership, especially for second-hand vehicles and we need to address the high cost of electricity. I know many people who are now questioning their commitment to electric cars because of the cost. It is time to act now, before it is too late.

See this speech in context