Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)

I welcome the reintroduction of this just transition Bill. I thank Deputy Whitmore for doing so. I thank her for recognising those who worked on this legislation, including my party colleague Eamon Ryan, Dr. Sinéad Mercier and the trade unionists who have been involved in the past. Since this Bill was first proposed by the Green Party in 2018, much has changed in the legislative agenda and the policy direction of this country and indeed in the world as a whole.

The just transition has been recognised as absolutely essential. It is referenced in our own domestic institutions, it has been adopted within EU frameworks and it is included within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, commitments as well.

Deputy Whitmore made the point about the use of the technical terminology "just transition" sometimes hiding or disguising what is being attempted and how that lack of clarity sometimes contributes to lessening support for the steps we need to take. Let us just remind ourselves what the intended outcome is here. The just transition is about improving people's quality of life while tackling the greatest threat in our lifetime, namely, climate change. That is what it is in a nutshell. It is about recognising that the workers who are employed in the parts of our economy that create a large amount of carbon will need the greatest amount of support. Not only the individual workers, the individual business owners, the individual farmers who are in carbon-intensive industries, but also the wider communities that depend on these people for their living. The just transition sees that people who are already vulnerable in our society, who already face poverty or relative poverty, will need the greatest support. We should always keep in mind that the impacts of climate change are going to be felt the most by the least well-off in our society, be that globally or in Ireland. It is the poor who suffer the most if rains fail in Ethiopia or when hurricanes are more severe in the Caribbean because of climate change. It is the poor who suffer the most from the energy price spikes we have seen here in Ireland. They are the ones most at risk of energy poverty.

Over the summer, I met the minister for climate action from Vanuatu, Ralph Regenvanu. He was visiting Dublin. Vanuatu is a small Pacific island nation on a range of islands. It has a population of just over 300,000 people. It is hugely at risk to natural disasters. It is hugely at risk to sea-level rise. Its very physical existence as an independent nation that is present is put at risk by climate change and by sea-level rise. For me, hearing from him about what his country is doing was a very real-world, tangible illustration of the existential threat that climate change represents for millions, and ultimately billions, of people living on our planet.

A number of Deputies referenced the 2025 report from our current Just Transition Commission of Ireland. I want to focus on three elements of that report. I note that, in this most recent report, the commission really focused on the fact that, to date, our approach to the just transition has been piecemeal. It has been too reactive and we have not adopted that all-of-society approach. It recognises that steps have been taken but it also strongly recognises that the communities I spoke of earlier that are most at risk of this transition feel left behind and that not enough has been done for them.

The second point it makes is that creating a better Ireland goes hand in hand with a just transition. Climate action at its core is not only about cutting the carbon emissions, but it is also about building a country where people can live secure, dignified and healthy lives. It is about improving things in all senses, for all people.

The final point I will raise about that report is the importance of faster climate action. At the Belém COP in recent weeks, we saw the huge preponderance of fossil fuel lobbyists who were there and who were able to influence the outcome of that COP to ensure the reference to the transition away from fossil fuels was not actually mentioned in the final text of the Belém declaration. The outcome of that in the medium-to-long-term is going to be more people in Ireland, more people across Europe and the world, having to experience the risk of energy poverty because of their dependence on fossil fuels.

I urge the Government to do more. As a country, we must choose courage over delay, we must choose fairness over fear and we must choose the opportunities that exist from this transition over obstruction. If we work and commit together to a just transition, that not only confronts climate change but ultimately builds a fairer and more just society for all of us in Ireland.

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