Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)

The national planning framework had the potential to unlock a brighter future in this country and to right the wrongs of the past, to develop a co-ordinated strategic and ambitious approach to the social, economic, environmental and cultural development of the island but what has been presented is certainly not that. It lacks ambition, is devoid of detail and is certainly not going to bring in the transformative change that the country deserves. Unsurprisingly, the Government has once again decided to rush through today another essential policy tool without allowing for proper Oireachtas scrutiny but that is par for the course for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael - skipping the essential democratic processes so they can evade criticism and let the Minister off the hook.

This framework will not deliver our climate ambition nor will it deliver the interconnected transport system that will facilitate balanced regional development and ensure proper rural connectivity. There is also nothing in here - faic - for the Gaeltacht area. There is a basic failure to marshal this plan to address the twin crises in climate and biodiversity and ensure that Ireland’s future development is informed by these existential threats. These challenges are intertwined and should not be treated in isolation. Ireland is one single biogeographic unit. We know about the challenges of ecological collapse. They do not pay attention to borders, so we need an all-Ireland approach. What engagement, if any took place, between Ministers and officials with their counterparts in the Six Counties? I would love to know.

The integrated electricity market already demonstrates the benefit of an all-island approach and there is no reason we cannot build on this in terms of energy but also a united transport system. However, to achieve this we need more than the vague nods to deeper collaboration that we see in the NPF.

The framework also fails to ensure that Ireland is operating within carbon budgets. We are already on track to exceed them by a large margin, which is getting wider and wider. Carbon emissions are cumulative and it is a flawed approach to simply focus on 51% by 2030, especially given that the NPF is a national policy document up to 2040. A destination without a roadmap for how to get there is not a proper plan. We must think of our future and our children's future. We owe them that much.

The NPF additionally fails to take the necessary steps to seize control of Ireland's incredible renewables potential. This was a real opportunity to course correct and make up for decades of inaction, bad planning, mismanagement and the reasons we are so far behind on our targets. The Government, however, has declined to take up the mantle. Take, for example, the regional renewable capacity allocations. They are nowhere near ambitious enough. While I am glad the Government has finally recognised the need for a regionally balanced approach, which distributes the burden and benefit more equitably, the targets it has set almost guarantee we will miss them. That will cost us billions in fines and place energy independence out of reach, and will not deliver on the potential to reduce people's electricity bills every two months. That is not going to happen with these targets. With these allocations, we will continue to be dependent on international gas markets for our electricity prices.

The allocations fail to take account of our infrastructural deficits in the grid and water provision. What hope have towns in Kerry, which need increased infrastructure so they can increase development in towns and village centres, without a proper plan? It is not just about available land but is also about capacity. The Government is falling short in that regard. To make matters worse, the NPF fails to deal with the fact that data centre expansion has gobbled up all the renewable energy capacity. There are serious risks to our energy security and climate ambition. What obligations are there going to be on companies that are promoting data centre expansion to ensure renewables are available?

As the Government eyes up LNG in a move that it considers necessary, and we will see what happens with the reports that are pending, we must ask ourselves what is really happening here and what is the ultimate agenda. Similarly, the framework also fails to introduce a specific national policy objective that supports repowering. Everyone agrees this will be essential for the transition to net zero but the NPF says and does little in that regard. The same, unfortunately, can be said of our plan for long duration energy storage. I was disappointed, but not surprised, that the Government seems determined to stick with the model of private ownership. Corporate developers are at the helm of our transition and they ensure that any benefits of transition will be siphoned off into the pockets of their shareholders rather than translating into national wealth for all. We see a higher role for the State. At the heart of our vision is the expansion of community, public and domestic ownership of renewables to bring down energy costs-----

See this speech in context