Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)

On 4 March, the Taoiseach told me, rather tetchily, "There is no resiling or rowing back from our commitment to addressing the issue of climate change". All I had done that day was to raise concerns that the new Government was not serious about climate action. That view was grounded in my reading of the programme for Government and the Taoiseach's ministerial appointments. He was quick to tell me then how wrong I was but I will give him an example of why I was right. On energy infrastructure, it is clear that the Government is making all the wrong choices. Crucially, it is making the wrong choice between clean renewables and polluting fossil fuels.

On Monday, Friends of the Irish Environment was granted leave for judicial review proceedings in respect of the Shannon liquefied natural gas, LNG, development. I am mindful not to comment on matters that are live before the courts, but Government policies on LNG are something about which the Taoiseach and I have spoken often. Our climate spokesperson, my Labour Party colleague Deputy Ciarán Ahern - whom we congratulate and welcome back from paternity leave this week - has taken up the matter with the new climate Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. We might recall that when in the Department of housing, the Minister opened the door to commercial LNG with his massive planning Act. At the time, he and the then environment Minister downplayed the impact of that change in policy. Now in the climate Department, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is implementing policies that clearly favour filthy fuels over clean energy infrastructure. When asked about it, Fianna Fáil talks up the energy security element but where is the wisdom or security in only now starting to build a gas terminal that does not fit with our emissions targets and will not even be ready until after the Government is supposed to have finished the transition to renewable energy? Meanwhile, sea levels and household energy bills are rising as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, and the profits of big energy companies are also rising. We are watching the impacts of climate change in the world around us and the Government is not doing enough to address it.

In April, we learned that 30 wind turbines off the coast of Galway will not be built. Those turbines could have powered 350,000 homes each year and avoided 550,000 tonnes of emissions each year. They could have created a raft of new green jobs outside Dublin. The developer cited challenging market conditions in the offshore wind sector as a reason not to proceed. Who is to say that other projects such as this will not collapse? What is the Government doing about it?

LNG is not a cost-effective energy source, apart from the environmental damage involved. More than 61% of LNG projects are cancelled or abandoned. Providers are paid to stay on stand-by, waiting for the day we need them to help out with supply. The proposal before the courts is a ten-year capacity contract worth €494 million. Those costs are likely to be passed onto ordinary households through the capacity payments tariff when Ireland is already one of the most expensive countries in the EU for electricity. Hard-pressed households will be footing the bill again. What is the Government going to do about this? Will it invest in renewables instead of fossil fuels?

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