Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Pringle for tabling this motion and for hosting a briefing in the audiovisual room in this general space a number of weeks ago. I know that ActionAid Ireland is an important contributor and works hard in this space. At the Oireachtas climate committee we also heard from Trócaire, Christian Aid and Oxfam, as we do in advance of COP every year. There are many organisations in that development space doing really important work and carrying out really important research and they are an important support to policy makers.

I welcome the fact that the Governments is not opposing the motion. The Minister of State outlined some of her concerns with the framing of the motion but expressed a willingness to engage with the Opposition to address some potential unintended consequences and I would expect that the Opposition would welcome the opportunity to do that. We do not want the unintended consequence of limiting support for investment in renewables, for example, but at the same time it is very clear and has been well set out that while the initial Bill was a step in the right direction, in practical terms it left the door open for alternative vehicles, financial derivative instruments, exchange traded funds and hedge funds to very significantly invest in climate-harmful industries and technologies, directly in fossil fuels and in harmful agriculture. There is a real contradiction here, as others have said. In this House we largely argue against the Mercosur deal because of the potential for very harmful agricultural practices to be fast-tracked and delivered into European markets when, in effect, significant funds making their way through Irish institutions are supporting those same industries. There is also a real contradiction in going to COP on the one hand and making welcome commitments in relation to loss and damage funding while on the other hand significantly investing in fossil fuel or climate-harmful technologies and industries in those same countries.

The measure of the Government's position in relation to this will be how it picks up on this motion, its action on it and whether it engages with the Opposition earnestly and meaningfully to try to tease out the areas where there is scope to improve and strengthen the existing legislation and, in fairness, if there are potential unintended consequences, to avoid those. That will be the measure of that. It is very clear that we need to move away from fossil fuels. That will require significant and ambitious action. Different perspectives on COP28 over the last few weeks and particularly in the past 24 hours have been outlined here this morning but what is very clear and undeniable is that it still falls very far short of a commitment, in language terms and in terms of actual action, that is consistent with the climate science but that is where we have to move towards. Essentially, COP28 is the only show in town but it is a deeply flawed process. Every year as we come out of it we bank the progress and are grateful for it but we also reflect on the failure of the process itself. Very earnest efforts need to be made to try to ensure that we make progress. If that requires a restructuring or reorganising of COP or a change to its rules, then that is what needs to be done.

An important issue that was made very clear at COP28 was the role of fossil fuel industry itself and its power and influence. I commend my party colleague Senator Lynn Boylan on the publication earlier this week of a Bill to regulate fossil fuel lobbying. We need to move to a space where fossil fuel lobbyists are treated similarly to the way tobacco lobbyists were treated years ago. The science is very clear and we need to ensure there is strong regulation so that the influence, power and money of the fossil fuel industry is curtailed and managed. We have done that in the past with other industries and sectors and there is real need to do it now with the fossil fuel industry.

While COP28 has made some progress, it falls significantly short of what is needed. As is always the case, in terms of both COP and this motion this morning, the measure of it will be in the action that is taken. The motion this morning is an important one. It is part of a number of actions that the Government can take to follow through on the rhetoric of climate action. Very significant changes need to be made in regard to our financial institutions and their priorities. If we follow the money on a national and international scale we can see very clearly that climate objectives and targets are not first and foremost and that needs to change. Amending the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act and progressing the proposed fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty are things we need to see the Government moving on in order to really put words into action. I welcome the progress that has been made on the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act up to this point but we need to tighten up on it.

The motion allows us to do that. Let us see the real intent of the Government in that regard.

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