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

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill, particularly with regard to the infrastructure, climate and nature fund. Decades of inaction by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael-led Governments lies at the heart of the situation we now find ourselves in: a climate laggard with lofty targets dressed up in serious-sounding rhetoric but without the actual policies or programmes to deliver. Instead of making progress, Ireland is going backwards. Today, Ireland is less likely to achieve our 2030 emissions reduction targets than this time last year. The chances of meeting our first carbon budget are all but gone. Decades of inaction by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael-led Governments have provided the situation in which, according to the European Commission, if we continue with the Government's plan, which is missing key elements and has few detailed measures, there will be a 31% shortfall at a minimum. Significantly falling short by a third is also a best-case scenario as it assumes we will meet all of our existing targets. However, the general consensus is that, as time passes, this has become an increasingly impossible task.

We need decisive action now that creates a credible pathway to a just transition to net zero and that rapidly delivers much-needed State-led supply side investment rather than the prioritisation of punitive measures that punish ordinary people, pricing them out of schemes and locking them out of the benefits of the transition to net zero. The Government either does not recognise or, worse, does not care just how hard pressed ordinary workers, families, farmers, and small businesses are. Rather than being asked to share a disproportionate share of the burden in the battle to address climate change, they should be actively supported. We need pathways, not cliff edges. That is the Sinn Féin way and we demonstrated in our 2024 alternative budget, outspending the Government by hundreds of millions of euro and delivering just and fair climate action through progressive, inclusive schemes as opposed to the regressive and exclusive schemes the Government proposes and implements.

While Sinn Féin recognises the value of a sovereign wealth fund, given the potential volatility and windfall nature of corporation tax receipts, the reality is we cannot afford to wait until 2026. In the same way that housing or health will not be fixed under this Government’s stewardship, neither will the climate or biodiversity crises. We cannot sit on our hands and watch as the world and Ireland hurtle towards climate catastrophe. Not only do we need action now, it is clear we need decisive change in the direction of travel. Under the stewardship of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party, we exhausted almost 50% of the 2021 to 2025 carbon budget in the first two years alone, and a consensus exists that they will blow it all before they leave office. This is a damning indictment of their legacy. Unless change is delivered rapidly, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have set Ireland on a certain path to climate failure. The eco-austerity, punitive policies the Government peddles only serve to build resistance and fear among ordinary people. This is not the type of approach that will deliver fair or equitable outcomes, never mind successful ones.

There is a better, fairer way. In contrast to the Government, at the heart of Sinn Féin's vision is a just transition. We need pathways, not cliff edges. This can only be delivered through supply side investment now, not in the years ahead. This legislation does not address these issues and we oppose it on that basis.

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