Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)

Decades of inaction, mismanagement and a lack of ambition from successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have caused Ireland's critical infrastructural deficits to develop into a full-blown crisis across multiple sectors. An Teachta Daly referred to the motion that Sinn Féin brought forward last week and the snail's pace at which the Government has rolled out the transition to renewable energy. On this, we are way behind our European colleagues. While countries like Scotland, Denmark and Portugal have seriously invested in their renewable infrastructure, we have failed to address the need to build clean, green energy infrastructure. Such infrastructure would help us to meet our climate goals and reduce our reliance on imported energy from abroad. Because of this delay, Ireland has the highest energy bills in all of Europe.

Households are crippled by sky-high bills because not only does the Government lack the political will and ambition to build renewable infrastructure, but it has also created a system full of bottlenecks and bureaucracy and a lack of resourcing. Ordinary workers and families are being fleeced as this Government continues to make life harder for them by removing badly needed energy credits that they need to keep their heads above water. Over 300,000 families are in arrears as of July of this year. That figure will only rise now under the watch of this Government, especially with the winter coming in and the cold nights ahead.

Our grid capacity has also come under serious pressure, with an urgent need for investment. What is worse, the Government has prioritised data centres for grid connections instead of new houses that are urgently needed to tackle the worst ongoing housing crisis in all of Europe. The first-come-first-served policy is not just insane; it is actually heartless when we have over 5,000 children in homeless accommodation.

The delays in EPA licensing in other sectors have been highlighted as another step in the process which is hampering efforts to develop renewable energy and bring down energy prices. Reforms are urgently needed to address these delays. However, these reforms should not be used as a smokescreen to bypass meaningful public participation in environmental processes, nor should they seek to weaken environmental safeguards already in place.

The recent report on the state of Europe's environment is a damning indictment of this Government's treatment of Ireland's natural beauty. Some 85% of our protected habitats and almost one third of protected species of flora and fauna have an unfavourable status, according to the report. Half of native plant species are in decline and more than 50 bird species are of high conservation concern. If that report, published the other day, were a parent-teacher meeting, the parent would have gone home very disheartened. "Poor" was the overall message of the report card. We are in the midst of a climate and biodiversity crisis and the Government has done nothing to seriously address the concerns we face. The Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss produced its final report in April 2023, with over 59 agreed-on recommendations for the Government to action. None of them have been implemented. The assembly also found that successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have failed to take biodiversity seriously and have failed to nurture our natural ecosystems, which explains the crisis we are in now.

It is essential, then, that we move to immediately address concerns when it comes to EPA licensing. We must streamline the process by introducing timeframes and addressing the delays. We must ensure speedy investment in critical infrastructure that is green, clean and essential in tackling the cost of living and the climate crisis we face. Mar a deireann an seanfhocal, éist le fuaim na habhann agus gheobhaidh tú breac. Ach nílimid ag éisteacht, agus is trua sin.

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