Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Deputy O'Sullivan. Good school transport systems certainly have a role in reducing emissions if they reduce the length and number of journeys by car. Ideally, we will have electric buses and hydrogen buses. We are very much moving to that model at the moment. I had the pleasure of visiting Wrightbus in Ballymena, which is making electric and hydrogen buses as we speak and is phasing out the production of internal combustion engine buses. It is great to see that happening on the island of Ireland. Another thing that can help reduce emissions is people going to their nearest school because they will be more likely, therefore, to be able to walk or cycle, which is the most climate-efficient way of travelling, or if they cannot do so and have to go by car, it will be a shorter journey. That needs to be borne in mind in any debate.

In terms of the general issue, the problems that people are facing with school transport are coming up all over the country and are very much being fed back to me from petitions to offices. I know that the Minister, Deputy Foley, has been apprised of the situation, which she sees, and is working hard to find solutions.

When we examine Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions, which were mentioned by some Deputies, we should also look at our emissions on a per capitabasis. Ireland's population has increased considerably in the last ten or 20 years. If you look at the graph of our emissions per capitaversus our total emissions, you will see that we are doing a bit better than maybe we think. Of course, with a rising population and more people, you are going to have more emissions. If our population had been stable or falling, as it is in many other countries, we would be doing much better. I am not someone who believes in preaching or self-righteousness when it comes to climate action. We are behind where we need to be in terms of the objectives we have set for ourselves. The UK is arguably doing better. They have reduced their emissions more than us, notwithstanding Prime Minister Sunak's recent policy changes. It was easier for them to do so. They had a lot of heavy industry and they were able to turn that off. It is trickier for us given the way our economy is structured. In 2017, in my very first speech as Taoiseach in this House, I said I wanted Ireland to go from being a laggard to a leader on climate. We are definitely not a laggard anymore. All of the independent bodies that do league tables and rate us and score us now accept that we are somewhere around mid-table. I want us to be a leader and I think that can be done in the years ahead.

On climate finance, I have not read the report that Deputy Murphy has referred to. I want to reiterate that we have made it a very substantial commitment to climate finance. It was made by the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, as Taoiseach. It will be over €250 million a year, and that is a not inconsiderable contribution. Climate finance is such an important part of the solution. The system change and the revolution that are going to have to happen will have to be funded and will need bond markets. That is why Ireland can make a contribution to it. One thing that we will examine as part of the establishment of our Future Ireland fund, which is the new sovereign wealth fund that we are establishing, is a new ethical framework around what it does and does not invest in. That will, of course, have to take into account fossil fuel production. I would say, in relation to the management of private finance here in Ireland, that a lot of that is just managed here. Those funds would just be managed somewhere else. I do not think moving them offshore would actually have an appreciable benefit for the environment.

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