Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a worrying trend in this House to see embracing sustainability and the climate challenge as a conspiracy somehow hatched in Dublin against the future of rural Ireland. The truth is exactly the opposite. It is those who seek to cling to practices and institutions that do not have a future who will lead their communities in the wrong direction.

What I like about the vision for rural Ireland pioneered by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is that it is taking the courage to portray the path to a resilient future for rural Ireland as one that embraces climate change and environmental sustainability. The truth is that it is those new technologies that are genuinely opening up the chance of rural prosperity. The new drivers of policy for future sustainability are far more dispersing of economic activity than those they have replaced. Broadband, for example, has now closed the digital divide between rural and urban communities as a result of the Government's decision. The vast majority of renewables will be in dispersed locations. The circular economy is going back to the fundamental principles that rural communities are built upon. For the vast majority of retrofitting, 70% of those on oil or solid fuels are in rural Ireland versus only 10% in Dublin. Retrofitting will be a rural bonanza. Just transition will focus on how we help communities to change.

The missing link in my view is carbon farming. We have not articulated how we are going to deliver carbon farming in a meaningful way that allows people to see a future for them. That is what has caused a reluctance to move. The truth is if we cannot bring rural communities with us in this transformation, we will fail and all of us will suffer the consequences. I believe we need to see new vigour put into some of the areas such as remote health, retrofitting, just transition and carbon farming, but we also need to see Government negotiating with rural leaders around the rewards that will be in place that make the transition of agriculture and land use a sustainable and bright future for them. We have yet to seriously engage in that process. I congratulate the Minister on the work she has done. I urge her to do more in a wider range of areas.

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