Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

A long-term strategy for climate, nature and energy was one of the key themes of the World Economic Forum. This brought the gap between rhetoric and action into public view again. Every single report published in the last year from the EPA, the SEAI or Wind Energy Ireland follows a worrying trend. They predict that Ireland is to blow right through our 2030 targets and miss the momentous opportunity to become energy secure and independent. Based on current trends and full implementation of planned climate policies and measures, the EPA projects that Ireland will only achieve a 29% reduction by 2030 rather than the 51% reduction enshrined in the climate Act. Similarly, according to a December report commissioned by Wind Energy Ireland, 95% of industry experts believe that Ireland has zero hope of delivering its energy transition at the pace and scale needed. At the close of last year, the SEAI warned that Ireland's energy emissions were not falling fast enough to stay within the Government's own carbon budget.

Even the Government's own progress reports indicate they are not doing a good enough job. They show an implementation rate of just 67%. Is it any wonder that the latest climate observatory report from the Central Bank argued that not only is Ireland performing badly we are performing worse than the majority of other EU states. Irish emissions per capitaare 23% higher than the EU average and 47% higher than Britain. Moreover, Ireland has one of the lowest proportions of renewables usage amongst EU states. Despite being one of the most effective measures in the fight against climate change the roll-out of renewables here is embarrassingly slow. What is this Government going to do to address the concerns of key stakeholders concerning our 2030 targets? What effort is the Department of the Taoiseach making to improve Ireland's performance for our own targets and by way of comparison to EU partners?

See this speech in context