Dáil debates
Tuesday, 29 November 2005
Climate Change Targets Bill 2005: Second Stage.
7:00 pm
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
I wish to share time with Deputies Cuffe, Boyle, Finian McGrath and Morgan.
Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I welcome the attendance of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I present the Climate Change Targets Bill 2005 in the understanding that it is in the interests of every Deputy and party in this House to address what is increasingly regarded as the most important and daunting challenge mankind has ever faced. The Green Party seeks to secure all-party agreement on the basic principles on which Ireland will address this challenge. These principles are glaringly clear. Ireland needs to set a long-term target for achieving the dramatic change the scientific community has indicated will be necessary to tackle climate change. We then need to make a clear commitment via annual, incremental reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to ensure we meet our long-term targets. We must embrace the new, low carbon future, rather than hide from it, as we and many other countries are currently doing.
The launch of the Bill coincides with the opening of negotiations in Montreal on the United Nations framework on climate change. While the talks are set to continue for several years, they will be crucial in determining what collective agreement can be reached by governments across the world to replace the Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012. It is not an exaggeration to say the outcome of the negotiations, successful or otherwise, will determine the future of mankind. The importance of this debate is that Deputies have an opportunity to recognise the significance of climate change.
The evidence of how polluting activity by humans is producing climate change is presented in ever more stark forms, particularly by members of the scientific community. We need to express this evidence in language lay people can understand. We must be honest with people by recognising that climate change threatens the lives of our children and grandchildren. For many people around the world, this threat has already arrived. The poorest 2 billion people on the planet live in close proximity to nature, on which they are dependent for food, heating and homes. These people are increasingly vulnerable to changes in nature which take place as the climate changes. They do not have an easy escape and cannot buy their way out of the problem.
The World Health Organisation has already estimated that 150,000 people per annum are killed as a result of ongoing climate change and 10 million per annum are dislocated by creeping environmental degradation. We cannot ignore this reality. The longer term threats are much more dramatic. Glaciers in the Himalayas are retreating. For example, the glacier from which Edmund Hillary set out to reach Mount Everest has shrunk by three miles since he made his climb. This could be construed as a simple curiosity were it not for the fact that the lives of hundreds of millions of people in China and the Indian sub-continent are dependent on the waters from the Himalayan glaciers which are threatened by further glacial retreat.
The annual 8% decline in the Arctic ice shield could also provide amazing curiosities. For example, this summer, for the first time, a boat was able to sail to the North Pole without the assistance of an ice breaker. If, however, we allow climate change to become a catastrophic runaway event, it will no longer be a curiosity but a threat to our existence. In such circumstances, we will be exposed to flooding or the potential that the Gulf Stream will be switched off. The sooner we recognise this threat and its only solution — immediate and radical reductions in greenhouse gas emissions — the better. To achieve this, we must initiate the measures set out in the Bill.
Sections 2 and 3 contain simple provisions requiring Ireland to take part in international negotiations. The Bill is part of a process under which we would send the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to Montreal to deliver a message that Ireland is willing to try to lead the international community and that it recognises that, as one of the most polluting countries in the world on a per capita basis, it has an obligation to address climate change. In advance of the negotiations, Ireland must indicate a willingness to make its contribution and change its ways. These sections also set out Ireland's willingness to make commitments at international negotiations on the basis that all countries participate and the outcome is fair and equitable.
Section 4 sets out in greater detail how Ireland would make reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. This would be achieved not only through trading mechanisms but also through meaningful reductions in energy use.
Section 5 sets out some of the targets which have secured widespread support among the scientific community. In spring this year European Heads of Government agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15% to 30% by 2020. In addition, European environment ministers have agreed to reduce our emissions by 60% to 80% by 2050, the figures required to achieve an increase of no more than 2° Celsius in global climate change.
Sections 6 and 7 set out the incremental approach to achieving these reductions. They provide that the Minister and his colleagues, the Ministers for Finance and Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, would be required to report to the House on Ireland's success or otherwise in achieving the annual, gradual targets required of us. It also provides for the development of a three-year plan which would be revised and must be voted upon in the House as the international negotiations proceed. This is a practical approach to the issue of greenhouse gas emissions which must be followed.
My introductory comments will be followed by Deputy Cuffe who will address some of the solutions Ireland could adopt. Addressing climate change is not a wholly negative undertaking, particularly for Ireland with its mild climate and boundless renewable resources. We have an opportunity to make a positive switch and Deputy Boyle will discuss some of the financial instruments which could help us do so. Deputy Gogarty will address transport issues tomorrow, while Deputy Gormley will discuss what will be the visible consequences of failure to react to the problem of climate change. Our party leader, Deputy Sargent, will round off the debate.
I ask the Minister and all other parties to support the Bill. It matters not whether one is a socialist or capitalist, of the left or right or seated on the Opposition or Government benches. Unless politicians start to be honest and provide real leadership by informing people that we need long-term change based on set targets and incremental changes, we will not succeed in addressing the issue of climate change. I commend the Bill to the House.
Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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A journey began seven years ago when Ireland signed the Kyoto Protocol. We knew then that the destination of this journey, in 2012, was to ensure the increase in Ireland's climate change emissions would be limited to 13% over 1990 levels. We knew what we had to do and the protocol was ambitious, far-sighted and reasonable. Five years ago, at the launch of Ireland's climate change abatement strategy, the then Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Noel Dempsey, stated: "Business as usual is no longer an option for Ireland". This strategy was the road map which told us what had to be achieved. A promise to renew the strategy every two years has not been kept. Earlier this year, when the Kyoto Protocol came into force, Ireland had an obligation to honour that international commitment that we had made previously. Long journeys start with small steps, but sadly those first few steps have been faltering. We need to concentrate and focus clearly on the target to be met in seven years' time.
Politicians must take a long-term view. We must move away from taxing labour and enterprise towards examining environmental damage and taxing finite resources and poor planning. We must make a shift in how we engage with policies and we must improve Government policies to assist in reducing climate change emissions.
We are producing more waste, driving further and gobbling up more land with urban sprawl. We need to change policies and get back on track. In Government, the Greens will put policies in place to reduce waste, improve public transport, encourage organic agriculture, promote renewable energy and promote proper planning and construction. It is not rocket science but it requires a commitment from Government to take the environment more seriously than it has done to date.
If the Climate Change Targets Bill 2005 is approved by the Oireachtas, it would place a legal requirement on the Government to change its policies to ensure that Ireland meets its obligations under international agreements. We want the Minister and his colleagues to report to the House annually on how we are meeting those commitments. So far the news has not been that good.
There are solutions whereby we can reduce waste. The plastic bag levy worked, for example, and we are delighted when our ideas are taken up by the Government. One cannot stop there, however. We must go further and we look forward to those commitments being met by the Government.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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To be fair, the Deputy's party supported me on the WEEE directive.
Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please allow the Deputy to continue without interruption.
Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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When we see green policies coming from Fianna Fáil, we are delighted to support them and we will continue to do so.
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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The Minister is not on "Questions and Answers" now.
Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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There was an improvement in our climate change emissions when IFI closed, but that was only temporary. We must go further by promoting organic agriculture which accounts for 1% of the sector here compared with 4% in Wales. Such a promotion would improve employment and stop farmers from leaving the land. Things like that can help us. Rather than wringing our hands when the Carlow sugar factory closed, we could examine alternative policies. Why not convert the plant to ethanol and maintain employment in that way? The Government has not given the green light for that idea, however.
We must also promote renewable energy. We have already seen the first wind turbines on the Arklow bank and planning is there for another 100 or so, but we need the incentive from Government to make that happen. Ireland can be part of a European grid that feeds green electricity throughout the European Union. So far, however, we are only in the ha'penny place so we need to go further. We need to improve planning policies. Suburban sprawl is the norm at the moment and we are still building huge housing estates miles away from the services people require. We want mixed-use communities that are placed close to schools, churches, shops and jobs. That can be done, but planning standards need to be improved to ensure it happens.
People are commuting for hours every day in a completely unsustainable manner and the lead in this regard must be taken by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Jobs should be located in commuter towns. I do not want everybody in Navan to have to travel to Dublin every morning. I want the Minister to ensure that jobs are provided in Navan so that the road from Navan to Dublin does not become a parking lot every day from 7.30 a.m.
The Minister must make the national spatial strategy work rather than engaging in the pork barrel politics of decentralisation. Our plea is for the Minister to make that shift by improving the design of apartments in our towns and cities so that instead of shoe boxes where sound travels, we will build decent homes in which people can rear their children. In the construction sector, for example, zero emission homes are already being built with heat pumps and timber-based, highly insulated construction. The solutions exist; it simply remains for the Minister to take them up.
In the 21st century, climate change is a greater threat to mankind than terrorism. It requires resolve, courage and conviction from governments. We want to see such resolve from the Minister by supporting this Bill. Climate change is already killing people in sub-Saharan Africa. It is leaving people homeless in New Orleans as a result of the hurricanes it is creating. Ireland should be able to hold its head up high. It could be a good news story but it requires vision from the Minister. We commend this Bill to the House.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Environmental justice rarely goes hand in hand with social and economic justice. In this profligate, wasteful world those who have benefitted from this planet living beyond its environmental means have tended to be — internationally and within our own society — those who have what we unfairly define as wealth. Those who have suffered as a result of our wasteful environmental policies are the most disadvantaged. A Bill of this nature would seek to commit both the House and future Governments to abandon such wasteful policies. The effects of the legislation would go beyond that of most legislative measures on the Statute Book, but it is not without precedent. The national pension fund can be referred to as an example in that regard.
The proper instruments must be available to ensure that social and economic justice is achieved as a result of bringing about environmental justice. That unfairness is intensified by choosing not to adopt the required fiscal methods. We rely on taxes that disproportionately affect the poor. According to the Book of Estimates this year, our biggest tax receipts are from value added tax, which cannot be measured at all in terms of environmental input. It is strictly a tax on spending whereby people on the lowest incomes pay the highest proportion of their income in VAT.
New replacement taxes, rather than additional taxes, must be considered seriously. I am somewhat saddened that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is not present in the Chamber. I would have been pleased to see his rabid, Pavlovian response to the word "tax" in any debate.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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I noted with interest the history of the Progressive Democrats Party that was published in recent weeks. Apparently, the first mad idea of the Minister, Deputy McDowell, as a policy position of the then nascent party was to abolish all income tax and replace it with property taxes. I would like to hear the Minister debate such issues as they relate to the type of fiscal instruments we choose to use these days.
Instruments are available that can help us to achieve our environmental goals. We have proposed a carbon levy, which could reduce VAT and replace the high levels of employers' and employees' PRSI contributions. It would go towards addressing the current fuel poverty problems which continue to deteriorate due to the inactivity of successive Governments in this regard. The problems are exacerbated owing to our reliance on fossil fuels and the fact that the most disadvantaged people must purchase the most expensive fuels for their heating needs, which also cause the most environmental damage. Social welfare fuel allowances need to be doubled at least, so we require a fiscal instrument to allow us to do that.
As it happens, it may not even be necessary to introduce a carbon levy because there are alternatives. Some countries use individual carbon credits as a mechanism under the Kyoto Agreement and we could use such means to get over our current industrial commitments. The same methods could be used for individual citizens. It might not be easy to administer, but it should form part of the overall debate on determining the best fiscal means to achieve our current target levels under the Kyoto Protocol. Other target levels will follow and, as sure as night follows day, this ongoing process will take up most of the coming century if we are to be serious in tackling these environmental problems.
We must have the means in place to ensure fuel poverty as an issue disappears from society, the discrepancies between wealth and poverty throughout the world are tackled in a serious way and environmental problems are tackled effectively. This can only be done by restructuring our tax system. We need to get rid of many of our current taxes and replace them with taxes that work and which tax the finite resources and recognise people's needs of food, heat and shelter. The current taxation system does not do that.
I ask that the Minister, in what I hope will be a considered reply to what is meant to be a consensual approach by the Green Party to a long-term ongoing problem, will keep in mind the need for a broader debate, put everything on the table and ensure this debate is taken seriously.
Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Sinn Féin welcomes the Green Party's introduction of this Bill and the opportunity to discuss this crucial issue in the Dáil. I welcome the fact the Bill seeks to enshrine in legislation commitments to reduce emission outputs in the State to prevent an increase in average global temperatures. Little or no opportunity has been afforded to discuss this issue in the Dáil in recent years.
The Government's response to climate change has been wholly inadequate. Climate change policy should not be about doing as little as possible to comply with the Kyoto Protocol. It must be about showing leadership in global terms and having a commitment to deliver significant decreases in emission outputs. The Kyoto Protocol is merely a minimum requirement and that the State cannot meet its commitments is scandalous. We must start from the point of view of making a genuine commitment to playing a leading role in the fight against climate change. We should set serious targets for the reduction of emissions and demonstrate to the world that, where there is a commitment, such a change can be achieved.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, the Twenty-six Counties' greenhouse gas emissions were restricted to a rise of no more than 13% above their 1990 level. By 2003, greenhouse gas emissions here were already 25% above that level. Clearly, adequate measures have not been implemented to address the growth of emissions. The Government's failure to take the action necessary to curb greenhouse emissions will result, according to "preliminary projections", in the State facing an estimated fine of more than €100 million and possibly as much as €180 million. The State's taxpayers and not the big industrial polluters will end up carrying the resulting financial burden.
Responsible states should not resort solely to emissions trading. It should be remembered that national exchequers will benefit from any actions that result in a reduction in emissions. The targets contained in the Twenty-six Counties' national allocation plan on emissions are weak and inadequate, thus eliminating the economic inducement that is necessary in order for emissions trading to be an effective tool in reducing emission outputs.
Does the Minister accept that, at this stage, there is no prospect of the State meeting its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol? Can the Minister outline exactly how he intends to reduce Ireland's emissions to 13% above 1990 levels? Can he tell the House how the State will pay the fines it will now certainly face? Is it his intention that the State will buy its way out of compliance and not attempt to reduce output of emissions? Does he agree this is irresponsible, as it amounts to the State not playing its part in the global fight to prevent climate change?
Even a quick examination of Government policy, which has promoted private transport, promoted incineration as a method of waste disposal and emissions trading as a preferred method of complying with the Kyoto Protocol, shows it has little interest in promoting environmental sustainability. Investment in the environment and renewable resources will benefit our citizens today as well as ensure a better quality of life for future generations. The Government must invest in climate change prevention, waste management based on a zero waste policy and environmental protection.
The issue of climate change challenges many of the tenets of mainstream economics. The past century's economic growth has come at a large cost in terms of the destruction of the environment. Orthodox economic theory is undermined by the reality that all growth is not benign. Climate change and global warming is now a reality that affects the lives of a large proportion of the world's population. All governments have an obligation to implement policies to prevent change.
Attempts to halt or even slow the process of global warming demands a reappraisal of the supremacy of growth as the ultimate goal. The refusal of the United States of America and a number of other states to accept any measures that would curb growth lies at the root of their refusal to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
We need real commitment to an environmentally sustainable future for Ireland, not the piecemeal approach currently adopted. We must investigate the best way to introduce energy taxes but, with this Government, there is always the fear that it will be the weakest and least well-off who will ultimately be penalised, not those creating the greatest amount of emissions. I look forward to the Minister's contribution to the debate and hope he will be able to update the House regarding the status of the climate change strategy and what actions the Government intends to take.
Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on this new Bill. I commend the Green Party for bringing this progressive legislation before the House, which I will strongly support. It seeks to ensure we achieve an annual pro rata in domestic greenhouse emissions necessary internationally to maintain the average increase in global temperatures at less than two degrees. The bottom line is that we need action and targets. Successive Governments have pussyfooted around this issue for years. Now is the time to move and I want all Deputies in the House to unite and support this sensible and progressive legislation.
I know it is trendy and fashionable at times, in particular in some media and literary political circles, to criticise the Green Party but I take an independent view. If the Green Party has a sensible policy or proposed legislation of quality, I will support it. This has always been my position and hence my support for the Bill. This is also an opportunity to challenge the Government, in particular the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which appears to be sleepwalking through this international crisis. I welcome section 8, which commits the Minister to a national plan to be reviewed every three years.
I do not use the word "sleepwalking" lightly. We must face the reality that Ireland is at the bottom of the premier league on the environment, in particular for producing greenhouse gases and waste. Our emission outputs increased by 25% between 1990 and 2003, which is a disgrace. It shows that successive Governments have not delivered on the issue. We have not seen similar climate changes in over 5,000 years. A total of 10% of Swiss glaciers disappeared in the summer of 2003. Europe's average temperature rose by 0.95 degrees in the 20th century.
We have seen increased flooding in recent years. The people of Drumcondra, Fairview and Clontarf are well aware of this issue due to the effect of flooding in their local communities. Internationally, there were 238 floods between 1975 and 2001, yet there were 15 floods in 2002. Let us not forget the 20,000 people who died in Europe in the heat wave of summer 2003. This is the reality of our debate and a warning for the future. Between one third and a half of the world's forests have been burned or chopped down, which is why we need urgent action. Tonight is a glorious opportunity to do something before it is too late.
Before I go into further detail on the legislation, it is also important to highlight the position regarding wars and their terrible human and environmental costs. Exploding large bombs in the Middle East, including Iraq, and elsewhere and using chemical weapons not only destroys human beings but destroys the environment. I raise this issue in the context of this debate as not only are Mr. Blair and President Bush war criminals, they are also guilty of profound international environmental vandalism. They must be challenged at all levels and in all quarters. We cannot turn a blind eye to President Bush and his allies as this can never be an option in democratic politics.
I challenge the Government on these issues. Our citizens are becoming sick and tired at the destruction of our world, our people and our environment. I welcome section 5 as it sets out targets for the Government at international level. It ascribes a leading role to the Government in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in concert with other EU and OECD member states. Section 5(2) identifies two targets for the reduction of domestic greenhouse gas emissions necessary to maintain the average increase in global temperatures below 2° Celsius, namely, a reduction of 15% to 30% by 2020 and a reduction of 60% to 80% by 2050. These are commonsense and progressive proposals. If we want results, we must have targets. I stress the need for planning, implementation and action.
I also warmly welcome section 6 which sets down the terms of the preparation and the content of the national plan to ensure our obligation to meet climate change targets are fulfilled. It commits the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to drawing up a national plan detailing the measures required to achieve the target reduction in our domestic emissions. The plan will subsequently be reviewed and modified as required. Section 6(2) provides that a scheme of per capita carbon allocation and training scheme may be included in the national plan. This is a detailed plan for the Minister to implement as he needs to do something rather than just waffling on programmes such as "Questions and Answers". We have had enough talk and old guff. Now is the time for the Minister to get on the pitch and score a goal for the environment.
I challenge the Government and the other political parties but I acknowledge we also have a role to play, both as parliamentarians and as citizens. We must play our part in local communities. I wish to pay tribute to the local residents and community and environmental groups in my area, especially in Clontarf, Marino, Fairview, Killester, Artane, Beaumont, Coolock, Raheny and Drumcondra. I commend the groups such as Charlemont residents' association and Dublin Bay Watch for their great community and voluntary work and their efforts to improve our environment. It all starts locally and it is important we recognise and value these people working in their own areas. They have all made a positive contribution in making the environment a safer place for children and themselves. I thank them and commend them on their magnificent efforts.
Section 7 sets out the role of the various Ministers in ensuring that Ireland fulfils its obligations in reducing domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Section 7(3) commits the Minister for Finance to report annually to the Houses of the Oireachtas on the provisions made in the annual budget and to ensure our annual target reduction in domestic emissions is met. I hope the Minister for Finance can deliver on subsection (3) as it will need finance to work well and efficiently.
I refer to flooding and two important issues in my own local area, in particular the proposed infill of the 52 acres in Dublin Bay. This is a very dangerous proposal. I urge the Minister not to allow this to happen. There have been major flooding issues in the Clontarf and Fairview area. This is a nightmare which will be worse if action is not taken. Dublin Bay experienced extensive flooding last year. The Environmental Protection Agency recommended that no further reclamation of estuary lands be undertaken before the reality of rising sea levels is addressed. I urge the Minister to listen carefully to those recommendations. I will work as long as I am a Member of this House to protect and preserve what remains of the amenities of Dublin Bay.
I also wish to raise the issue of the flooding of the Tolka river which is directly linked to the issue of climate change. Waste water from the Dublin Port tunnel is being pumped into the Tolka river, despite major efforts to improve the environment.
Section 8 deals with reporting to the Houses of the Oireachtas and accountability. I welcome the legislation. I thank Deputies Eamon Ryan, Cuffe, Gormley, Gogarty, Boyle and their leader, Deputy Sargent, and commend them on their vision, leadership and courage in bringing forward this progressive legislation which I will support.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome this opportunity to address the House in response to this Private Member's Bill. I thank Deputies Eamon Ryan and Cuffe who came to see me and we spoke at some length about this Bill.
All of us in this House are agreed that climate change is taking place and some of the evidence has been outlined. The most visible indications of this trend include the retreat of the ice sheets on the world's mountain glaciers and at the polar regions. Its impact will be far-reaching and will affect developed as well as developing countries. Various extreme weather events over recent years have emphasised how exposed we are to economic and social dislocation from environmental factors. While it is not possible to link individual events directly to climate change, some extreme events are consistent with what scientists have been saying about climate change for a number of years.
In Ireland, climate change will impact on agriculture, energy, construction, transport, communications, tourism, fisheries and forestry, all highly sensitive to weather and climate factors. Research by Met Éireann among others, has shown that flooding and storm damage is expected to become more prevalent in coming years and increasing financial costs and further losses due to property damage may be anticipated as the climate warms.
The European Union is of the view that global temperature increases should be limited to 2°C and has articulated a position on what needs to be done to stabilise global temperatures at this level. I will return to this point. It is sufficient to say at this point, however, that global average temperatures have already increased by 0.7°C over the last 100 years and are projected to grow further by between 1.4°C and 5.8°C over the next century, depending on which projection one reads.
This Bill aims at committing Ireland in law to quantified reductions in greenhouse gas emissions above and beyond existing commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and it is unique, internationally, in that regard. The Bill also seeks to commit this country to establishing targets for the percentage of our total primary energy requirement to be provided by renewable energy supply. Relevant Ministers would be required to report annually to the Oireachtas on progress towards achieving these targets.
The Government agrees with the sentiment inherent in this Bill that Ireland should fulfil its climate change obligations. I would go further and say it would make sense for us to fulfil our climate change obligations. However, it does not agree that it should establish a commitment in legislation, which can be challenged in the courts, to achieving longer-term reduction targets on which there is as yet no international agreement.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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We will not achieve anything.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I would argue that the Government cannot subscribe to a Bill which seeks to set long-term reduction targets on a legislative basis. These targets are properly the area of Government policy. Climate change policy has been adopted on foot of decisions taken by the Government and is based on international commitments that Ireland has signed up to and ratified, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol to that convention.
It is not necessary for the Government to enshrine in legislation its commitment to a fair and equitable reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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This commitment is already demonstrated by Ireland's signature and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol which represents a real and significant contribution to combating global climate change. Ireland's Kyoto Protocol target is to limit emissions to 13% above 1990 levels. This target is the product of negotiations at international and subsequent EU levels. The Kyoto Protocol set emissions reduction targets for developed countries of 5% on 1990 values by 2012 and within this overall target, the then EU 15 were given a reduction target of 8% relative to 1990 levels. Ireland's target is the product of a burden-sharing agreement between the EU 15. This burden sharing identified Ireland's economic development at the time of the discussions.
The Government's policy approach to meeting the State's Kyoto Protocol target is set out in the national climate change strategy. This is the appropriate place for discussion of national and sectoral targets. The Government is not against setting targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Meaningless targets.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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However, such targets need to be set out in the appropriate place. Law is not the appropriate place. No other country is doing this.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Sweden has just done it.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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No other sane country is doing it.
Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Minister without interruption.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Just to correct the Minister, the Swedish Parliament has just agreed it. All parties agreed it.
Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy Eamon Ryan had an opportunity to speak.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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I was correcting the Minister.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I will come back to consider the strategy and I will deal with the specific points. I would ask the Deputies to afford me the same courtesy as I afforded them because I listened to everything they said. I listened carefully to them because I was waiting for practical suggestions.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Returning to the Government's grounds for opposing this Bill and quite separate from the Government's opposition in principle to enshrining targets in legislation, it is entirely inappropriate for legislation made by the Oireachtas to contain reduction targets on which there is as yet no international consensus.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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There is full international scientific consensus.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Scientific consensus is one matter. There is international agreement between either the EU 15 or the other members to the protocol as to where we will be on these issues in a number of years' time.
Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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It is leadership we are looking for.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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We should lead, not follow.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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It is a matter of the grossest political irresponsibility——
Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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I would ask the Deputies to allow the Minister speak without interruption. The Deputies were allowed make their contributions without interruption and if they were not able to put everything into their contributions, the Chair cannot facilitate them now.
Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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I was put off by the Minister's interruptions.
Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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Sorry, Deputy.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I recognised Deputy Cuffe's positive contributions on two occasions. I believe in praise where praise is due but also believe in the truth in this. Sadly, while the Deputy's sentiment is correct, this Bill would make no sense. It would do us irreparable damage and there is no logic to what the Deputy is proposing.
The overall greenhouse gas reduction targets to which the Bill refers are not based on internationally agreed reduction commitments. They are, in fact, the goals adopted by the European Council earlier this year with a view towards the commencement of negotiations on a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. They are goals, not agreements.
In this context, I want to be clear that the Government takes seriously its existing climate change commitments. We will take on our fair share of whatever commitments are agreed as a successor to the Kyoto Protocol. Kyoto is the only existing internationally binding agreement that controls emissions of greenhouse gases. There is no logic in anticipating other agreements which have not yet been reached.
The debate is in a sense opportune, given that the 11th conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is taking place in Montreal. I will attend the ministerial segment of the meeting which takes place next week. The meeting will incorporate for the first time the parties to the Kyoto Protocol since ratification by Russia and the taking effect of the protocol, and will provide the occasion for the formal adoption of the 2001 Marrakesh Accords for fulfilling parties' Kyoto Protocol commitments. Those accords set out the detailed methodologies by which the Kyoto Protocol is implemented and the parties' commitments are tracked, and they do not include the proposition the Deputies are making here.
As I have mentioned, the Montreal meeting will also present the first formal opportunity for parties to discuss the future of the international climate change process after the Kyoto Protocol's first commitment period expires in 2012. The European Union will seek to engage parties on the key issues of how to build on the Kyoto Protocol. This will be done with a view to achieving the ultimate objective of stabilising concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases at a safe level.
What such a safe level should be has been quantified and articulated by the European Council of Ministers at the Environment Council meeting in March and subsequently at the Spring European Council. The EU made considerable progress in defining its position on a medium and long-term strategy to counter climate change. In summary, it was agreed that to fulfil the EU objective of limiting global annual mean temperature increases to a maximum of 2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration levels will need to be stabilised "well below 550 parts per million volume CO2 equivalent".
To achieve these stabilisation levels, global emissions of greenhouse gases will need to peak within two decades, followed by a substantial reduction of at least 15% and possibly by as much as 50% by 2050 compared with 1990 levels. The EU is willing to consider emissions reduction targets for industrialised countries of 15% to 30% by 2020 and 60% to 80% by 2050. These proposed targets are intended as the basis for international discussions on further action. In the context of this debate, I must stress that they are in no way binding on the EU at this time.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The Government already agreed them.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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They are targets; that is why they were agreed. While the European Council agreed proposed targets for the post-2012 period, the Council also recognised the importance of engaging other major emitters outside the EU in the negotiation process and that this would require a degree of flexibility on the solutions proposed.
If negotiations on targets proceed in a similar fashion to those on Kyoto, the EU targets will be apportioned between member states as part of a burden sharing agreement. The Kyoto burden sharing agreement took into account a number of factors, including the state of the economy during the base period, projected economic growth and available projections for future greenhouse gas emissions. The targets for each member state therefore reflect their particular national circumstances and Ireland's specific target will then have to emerge from a process of negotiation within whatever overall target is set by the EU. It is simply not possible at this stage to anticipate what that will be.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Leadership. We can lead.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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That is a shibboleth. It is not a reality.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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It is not a shibboleth. That is proper politics.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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There is therefore no basis on which to adopt specific targets——
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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It is what politic is about — seeing the future.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Eamon Ryan is being tiresome. His interruptions are not even sensible. The reality is we are talking about a moving target and he is talking about binding us to something which has not been agreed.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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We are talking about telling the people what is possible.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I fully support the Deputy's sentiment but his sense seems to have lost him.
The European Union has a strong position on climate change and on what it wants from Montreal. It is seeking a broad, open and early discussion. It hopes particularly to engage with the US, if possible, and the heavier greenhouse gas emitting developing countries such as China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa. Negotiations at Montreal are unlikely to be easy. The debate is ongoing on this issue.
I now want to return briefly to consider the basis for the Government's approach to meeting its Kyoto Protocol target. The national climate change strategy provides the basis for Government policy and action to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the most efficient and equitable manner. The strategy also ensures that Ireland meets its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The strategy identifies a range of policies and measures to reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions across various sectors of the economy.
Progress has already been achieved in progressing measures across a variety of sectors. Among the measures implemented are increasing the share of renewable energy in line with meeting our EU targets; fuel switching to less polluting fuels in power generation; emissions labelling in motor vehicles——
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Particularly useless.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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——excise relief to biofuels projects to help stimulate Ireland's biofuels market; and revision of Part L of the building regulations to reduce energy use in new housing by 23%.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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At the time the strategy was being developed, it was projected that, in the absence of any measures to address the problem, Ireland's emissions in the Kyoto commitment period would be 37% above 1990 levels. The actual figures for recent years show that we were 31% above 1990 levels in 2001; 29% above in 2002 and 25% above in 2003, the latest year for which figures are available.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Did they not have Irish Steel and ISPAT?
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is quite correct. A variety of economic circumstances and change over time——
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Nothing the Government did.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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——produced precisely the positive effect of which the Deputies speak. While these reductions are positive, we cannot rest on our laurels. Rapid growth in the economy is placing an upward pressure on our greenhouse gas emissions and requires us to intensify efforts to bring about the required reductions. The latest available projections of emissions for the 2008 to 2012 period suggest that, even with existing implemented measures, Ireland will face a shortfall of some 8 million tonnes per annum in reaching our Kyoto target. Incidentally, the original projection was 9.2 million tonnes.
To this end, work is under way in my Department on a review of the strategy, taking account of developments at national, European and international levels. This review is important, not only to take account of major changes in the climate change policy landscape at both international and domestic levels but also to seek to identify what additional cost-effective measures Ireland might be able to implement. I am keen to investigate further the potential of areas such as afforestation, energy efficiency, biofuels and anaerobic digestion of agricultural manures. In areas such as these Ireland has a natural advantage which we should attempt to exploit.
Other areas are being examined at EU level in the context of the European Climate Change Programme, including the development of energy-efficient technologies, carbon capture and storage as well as a variety of other devices. I will shortly publish a review document, which will assess progress in implementing the strategy, including emissions trends across each of its sectors. The review will outline proposals for additional measures for Ireland to cost effectively meet its target under the Kyoto Protocol. It is my intention that this document will inform debate on how best to achieve further emissions and, in turn, the development of a revised climate change strategy.
Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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That review was undertaken by the Department two years ago.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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If such a document is to be meaningful, it must contain targets for reduction of emissions. However, such targets can only be set with reference to existing international commitments and to the latest available projections of Ireland's emissions profile over the 2008 to 2012 period.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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To do otherwise would have been irresponsible.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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It would have been responsible.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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A revised strategy must continue to support economic growth in a sustainable manner while at the same time preparing Ireland for more ambitious commitments that are likely to be required after 2012.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Beyond the next election.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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While the European Council has provided a signal on what these targets might be, this is as far as we can go at this time. Certainly, by the time I publish a revised climate change strategy, the way forward may be clarified, though this process is likely to take considerable time. Existing measures in the strategy, together with any additional measures that might be put in place, form only part of the Government's approach to meeting its target under the Kyoto Protocol. The 8 million tonne gap I mentioned will also be addressed through a combination of emissions reductions, by installations, participating in the EU emissions trading scheme and through the purchase by Government of carbon credits sufficient to address any shortfall. The latter is a device identified as a sustainable way forward in the Kyoto Protocol.
As regards the former, the EU emissions trading scheme is a regime whereby major emitters of greenhouse gases are made responsible by their national governments for delivering a stated proportion of the national target for reductions. Deputy Morgan touched on this, showing how imperfect is his understanding of the whole process. In Ireland, these emitters include the power generation sector and energy intensive industries such as cement and alumina production and they account for one third of total emissions of carbon dioxide.
Turning back to Deputy Morgan's contribution, the economic rationale behind emissions trading is to use market mechanisms to ensure that emissions reductions are achieved in the least costly manner. The scheme thus provides a strong financial incentive for firms to reduce their emissions by investing in more efficient technology or changing their processes. By any standards, the establishment of emissions trading should be considered to be a success and demonstrates that market mechanisms have a place alongside traditional command and control measures in environmental policies.
I recently signed SI 706 of 2005, which changes the emissions trading regulations to allow credits from the Kyoto Protocol flexible mechanisms — the joint implementation and clean development mechanisms — to be traded within the EU emissions trading scheme. This will expand the scope of emission reductions available for participants in the scheme, thereby lowering overall cost of compliance. The facility will give an important boost to activity under the Kyoto Protocol's flexible mechanisms, opening up investment opportunities to the developing world, which I am sure all Deputies in the House will welcome.
The EU emissions trading scheme is initially operating on a pilot basis for the period from 2005 to 2007, which is designed to provide the Government and participating firms an opportunity to learn and to refine approaches for the next phase, which covers the period 2008 to 2012. I will bring proposals to Government in the new year on the overall allocation of allowances.
I now turn to the final element in the Government's overall approach to meeting its Kyoto Protocol target, the purchase of carbon credits by the State. There has been some disingenuous commentary about the potential costs to the Exchequer so I will make the position clear. The Government has signalled that it would, on the basis of greenhouse gas emission projections available at that time, purchase up to 3.7 million carbon allowances per year in the first Kyoto Protocol commitment period 2008 to 2012. On the basis of an assessed average price of €15 per carbon allowance during that period, the total annual cost to the Exchequer would be €55.5 million. This was mentioned in answers to parliamentary questions earlier today. The ultimate cost to the Exchequer will depend on the final purchasing requirement and the price of carbon when the credits are purchased. I am developing a strategy for the purchase of allowances in consultation with my colleagues in Government.
Returning to the provisions of the Bill, I have outlined my opposition to it on the basis that it is inappropriate to establish targets in legislation. It is further inappropriate to propose targets which have not yet been adopted by international agreement. The Bill contains a provision for the establishment of targets for the percentage of Ireland's total primary energy requirement to be provided from renewable energy and would require the Government to report to the Oireachtas on this and on the expected reductions in energy use that will be achieved through increased energy efficiency.
Climate change policy is closely linked to energy policy, but also to policies as regards industrialisation, transport, agriculture and across the range. The inter-relationship with energy policy is particularly important and in this regard policies on renewable energy have an important contribution to make in terms of the Kyoto Protocol.
Deputy Cuffe mentioned renewable energy. The Government is committed to the generation of 13.2% of Ireland's electricity needs from renewable energy sources by 2010. Indeed, the growth in Ireland's total energy requirement in line with the expansion of the economy hides the fact that overall, Ireland's renewable energy supply grew by 71% between 1990 and 2002. He is right in saying that more could be done, I absolutely agree with him. Renewable energy will be a significant contribution to reducing Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions. I agree with the central point he is making to the effect that we have to change our attitude to that. We cannot adopt a NIMBY attitude, for example, in respect of wind turbines, which has happened in many cases.
The Government's recent decision to change from a competitive tendering to a fixed price support mechanism to ensure adequate support for future renewable energy projects demonstrates our commitment to reaching the 13.2% target. On current figures, Ireland is approximately half way towards that target.
As regards reductions in energy use, I fully agree that energy efficiency is one of the key areas in which Ireland, as with other countries, can make progress. With high oil prices, we urgently need to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels through increased use of renewable energy. The other side of this coin is our demand for energy and we can address this by becoming more energy efficient. The European Commission recently identified potential savings of 20% in Europe's energy consumption by 2020. This is confirmed by today's report from the European Environment Agency on the state of the European environment, which highlights energy efficiency and renewables as two of the key measures to reducing Europe's greenhouse gas emissions.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Can that not be taken as a mandatory term?
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In summary, the Government is actively committed to reaching its existing international targets and is committed to working proactively with our European and international partners to developing a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. The Government will reach its Kyoto Protocol target through a combination of measures, including the emissions trading, measures set out in the national climate change strategy and additional steps to be agreed in the context of a revised strategy; and the purchase by the Government of sufficient allowances to meet any shortfall.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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It does not seem to be working well.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Loose targets are being missed constantly.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Not as frequently as the Deputy misses his targets.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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What targets are they? Let us hear them.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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While I appreciate the motives for introducing this Bill, I am not convinced that legislation is the appropriate way to proceed in this case — it is highly inappropriate. I would prefer to engage with all interested parties, including the parties in this House, in the context of the review of the national climate strategy, in developing appropriate policies to ensure the achievement of Ireland's existing Kyoto Protocol target.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The review was done two years ago.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I look forward to the beginning of debate in Montreal on the way forward from the Kyoto Protocol, which I am sure colleagues in this House will follow with interest.
I am very disappointed in the contributions that were made. I had expected more than the usual shibboleths.
Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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The Minister was not listening.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I listened very carefully, in particular to the drivel about tax, and that is utterly disappointing.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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We are following the Minister's example and trying to speak on his style, to speak his language.
8:00 pm
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the general thrust of this Bill as it indicates an anxiety to address an issue that needs to be tackled. The Minister himself has indicated that. It also serves to focus on the issues to which the Bill refers because failure to focus on a subject is failure to do anything about it. It is appropriate that the Green Party introduce the Bill at this time, given that the issues involved have affected us in the last ten to 15 years, but will affect us to a far greater extent in the next 20 to 25 years.
I agree that there should be a long-term plan for energy use and conservation. There should also be a medium-term plan and I fully agree that there should be a short-term plan. These plans should be interlinked, interdependent and updated on a regular basis. Otherwise, we will not be able to identify our energy uses and emissions, how they are changing and the degree to which we must comply under the Kyoto Protocol. We need to focus on the limits that must be met and the Bill has much to offer in going about that task. The Minister has been very critical of the Bill, but it is a genuine attempt by a party to address the issues. We are all in the same business at the same time. My party identified the same issues a few weeks ago, with a different emphasis in different areas.
The object of the exercise is to achieve the following outcomes. We must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and on imported fuels. We must introduce a greater degree of reliance on renewable energy and ensure that all we do reduces emissions into the atmosphere. This does not require rocket science and everybody can play some part. The Minister mentioned the question of engine emission labelling. Engine efficiency labelling is equally important. There is a great difference between a motor vehicle that yields 20 to 25 miles to the gallon — we have plenty of them in the country — and a motor vehicle that delivers 60 miles to the gallon. The two vehicles are capable of doing a similar job. There is a huge difference in the emissions and in the import costs of both vehicles. I am not suggesting there should be a carbon tax because I am loath to offer the Government other ways of raising taxes, especially on an over-burdened society that has been hammered by the Government with all kinds of taxes in the last seven or eight years. However, the same result can be achieved by efficiency labelling to which the Green Party Deputies referred, as did the Minister by his own admission. These actions require the co-operation of a number of Departments, including the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the Minister for Transport and the Minister for Agriculture and Food. The thrust of Fine Gael policy in this area was to focus attention on what each of these Departments could do to bring about a position whereby we were less dependent on energy imports, had greater energy efficiency and delivered a reduction in emissions.
Conservation and insulation are capable of making the single biggest contribution to reduction in emissions in that area. It is very simple, requires little effort and is beneficial to the community and the economy. It does not improve the revenue prospects for the Government, but who worries about that? It has the ability to reduce the dependency on imported oil by up to 23%. Other speakers referred to growing crops for alternative energy sources such as biofuels. It is an area that has considerable scope. It does not necessarily follow that we would make a fortune from it, but it could reduce emissions.
Wind energy has the greatest potential of all in replacing existing energies based on fossil fuels simply by generating more wind energy. The Minister referred to the difficulties we have had recently with environmental rules. There is also a difficulty in getting access to the grid. There are currently several groups producing alternative energy through wind generated electricity that have been held up in their attempts to get access to the grid. Many of these groups have despaired of the situation.
Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The explanatory memorandum of the Bill states that it seeks to introduce legislation to ensure we achieve the annual pro-rata reduction in domestic greenhouse gas emissions that are necessary internationally for the average increase in global temperatures to be maintained at less than two degrees. That is a reasonable aspiration and I was surprised to hear that the Minister expressed his grave disappointment at the contributions from this side of the House. Everyone on this side of the House is disappointed with the Minister's response to the Bill. However, we are not surprised because that is the normal thing that happens here. Blessed are those who do not seek justice, for they shall not be disappointed.
We are all agreed that climate change is happening, yet the Minister stated in his speech:
This Bill aims at committing Ireland in law to quantified reductions in greenhouse gas emissions above and beyond existing commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. The Bill also seeks to commit this country to establishing targets for the percentage of our total primary energy requirement to be provided by renewable energy supply. Relevant Ministers would be required to report annually to the Oireachtas on progress towards achieving these targets.
It is very reasonable that we should try to achieve that, but later he went on to state that the Government has decided to oppose the Bill on the basis it is inappropriate to propose targets which have not yet been adopted by international agreement. What is wrong with putting down targets? Why not let Ireland lead the way in putting down targets for the rest of Europe to follow? I cannot see how the Government claims that it must oppose the Bill because it sets targets we have not yet been asked to set.
I thank the Green Party for bringing forward this Bill and we will support it at this stage. The Green Party has been to the forefront in promoting this and other environmental issues in the House. When faced with a Government that has such scant regard for the environment, it is a good job that a party highlights these issues. Fine Gael has made an issue of global warming and it will be one of our priorities in the next general election. Alternative energy is not just an environmental distraction, but is also an economic imperative. At our recent conference in Millstreet, we unveiled a series of policies that we believe will make an impact in the country's attempt to meet its international environmental commitments. In responding to the debate tomorrow, perhaps the Minister might commit to one or two of those policies. We would help farmers to enter the bio-crop market by providing established grants for producer groups that would contribute up to 50% of the cost of setting such groups, subject to a maximum of €300,000 per group.
We would boost production of biofuels through a public competition for the establishment and operation of a number of biofuel processing plants strategically located in a selected number of locations. We would create a market for biofuels by legislating for all motor fuels to include a blend of fuel from renewable sources. All petrol sold at filling stations would include a 5% biofuel mix and all diesel fuel would contain a 2% biodiesel mix. We would reduce emissions from vehicles by establishing a system of energy efficiency labelling for vehicles. Those vehicles awarded a higher rating would be rewarded with a reduced rate of VRT.
Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Similarly, as Deputy Durkan has stated, vehicles with a lower rate of efficiency would be penalised with a higher rate of VRT. We would amend the national spatial strategy to include major renewable energy infrastructure projects and would include such projects in regional development plans.
We would propose the provision of a new community dividend to act as compensation for those communities located close to important infrastructure that aids the entire country to reach its alternative energy commitments. We would move towards generating 33% of Ireland's electricity needs from renewable sources. Deputy Durkan has already outlined the value of wind-produced energy.
We would mix direct State investment with a regulatory regime which would give national grid access to renewable sources above all others. We would prioritise the creation of a network of wind turbines to harness the potential of wind energy which in this country is estimated to be the best in the European Union. We would consider a complete separation of the ESB from the national grid to ensure a level playing field for all energy suppliers. We would increase funding for research and development in the offshore hydroelectric sector to ensure that established targets are met.
We would increase the funding available to Energy Action and all those similarly engaged in the specifically focused target of bringing existing housing stock up to the insulation standards of newly built homes. In that regard, much energy could be saved by the installation of proper insulation and standards in homes, particularly in those older homes built 20, 30 or more years ago.
Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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We would extend grant aid to householders for those who wished to convert existing home heating technology to renewable energy technology, up to a value of €500. We would establish a centre of excellence for alternative energy, charged with ensuring that Ireland develops a world class alternative energy sector.
These are our proposals. I want the Minister, or whoever will be replying on the Government's behalf later in the debate, to respond to our points and to examine whether they are feasible. Opposition Members would be delighted if the Government took up our proposals and policies as it has done in many other respects. It would be for the general good if it did so. I look forward to the Minister's contribution later.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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I thank the Fine Gael Party for facilitating me by allowing me to make my contribution now as I will be unable to attend the debate later. I welcome the Bill and congratulate the Green Party for introducing it. The Labour Party will support this Bill in the division.
I am disappointed by the negative response from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It was in line with the replies he gave earlier today during exchanges at Question Time. He seeks to talk his way out of and around the Government's failure to deliver on our Kyoto Protocol targets. We are an embarrassment and are ashamed of the Minister.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Collectively, the rest of the European Union is going in the right direction. The 15 pre-accession EU states are 5% under the 1990 target, while the 25 member states are 7% under the 1990 target. Ireland, under this Government, is 25% above the 1990 target. Currently, under this Administration, there does not appear to be any hope that we will reach the target. All the Government intends to do is play for time.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Minister has stated that he will publish a review document shortly. He continued by stating there would be consultation on the document.
Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Should that be constipation?
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Minister also declared his intention to publish a revised climate change strategy. He stated, "by the time I publish a revised climate change strategy, the way forward may have been clarified, though this process is likely to take considerable time".
Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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After the general election.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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This was not a reference to what might be agreed at the Montreal meeting. The Minister referred to the clarification that will take place on a wet Friday, sometime between now and the middle of 2007, in every primary school in the country. While we heard claptrap from the Minister about the urgency of the issue of climate change and how concerned he is about the dangers, effectively the Government is putting off the evil day until the general election is safely around the corner. If it is returned to office, it will have something to say about climate change. If not, the Government parties will be on the Opposition benches and will blame the unfortunate Members on the Government benches who will be obliged to sort out the mess left behind.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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We will be able to take it.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Government will leave an enormous heap of carbon and pollution behind it.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy should dream on. He is opposed to everything good that is done by the Government.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Government is doing to the environment what it did to the economy in 1977, when it made a mess of it, blamed other people and attempted to re-write history.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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This is the most progressive economy in Europe.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The national climate change strategy was published just over five years ago. At the beginning of the plain guide version, we are told that we face a grim future unless we change. The plain guide goes on to tell us that the national climate change strategy turns the Kyoto Agreement into a programme for action. I should mention that the national climate change strategy was published in 2000, three years after the Kyoto Agreement was signed.
In the five years since that programme for action was devised, what progress has been made? Ireland's carbon emissions are 25% up on the benchmark 1990 value. While our limit is an increase of 13% by 2012, we have doubled this in only five years.
With only six years to go before the Kyoto deadline of 2012, it appears unlikely that Ireland will reduce carbon emissions to our allowed limit. This means that Ireland will have to buy carbon — the Minister informed the House today that 8 million tonnes are required — or the right to pollute on the international market. In other words, the Government plans to buy its way with taxpayers' money out of its inaction on the environment.
While the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, admitted today that a further reduction of 8 million tonnes of carbon emissions will be required by 2012, he declined to state by how much carbon will be reduced each year. However under Article 3(4) of the Kyoto Protocol, this information should have been submitted prior to the Montreal meeting. Article 3(2) states: "each Party included in Annex I shall, by 2005, have made demonstrable progress in achieving its commitments under this Protocol". Article 3(4) states:
Prior to the first session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol [in plain language, that means the Montreal meeting] each Party included in Annex I shall provide, for consideration by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, data to establish its level of carbon stocks in 1990 and to enable an estimate to be made of its changes in carbon stocks in subsequent years.
Hence, it is plain that we are required to submit a year by year reduction in our level of carbon admissions to the Montreal meeting. The Minister told us today that he is not obliged to do so.
He also declined to state what the worst case scenario would be if Ireland does not meet its targets. Surely at this late stage, when it is quite clear that the national climate change strategy is far behind in its implementation, the Minister should seek this type of information from his advisers. The cost has been estimated by the Government's consultants as being between €102 million and €120 million each year for the next five years in fines for our excess carbon dioxide emissions. That is a total of €600 million over five years.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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They are the Minister's figures — utter fiction.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The massive bill to the taxpayer is made all the more painful when one considers the announcement in the autumn by the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Noel Dempsey, to provide €115 million funding for renewable energy projects over 15 years.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy knows it is not true, although he keeps saying it.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The European Environment Agency, on the other hand, is quite prepared to face the reality of the worst case scenario and it seems that in terms of performance regarding the Kyoto Protocol, Ireland is the worst case scenario.
According to a new European Environment Agency report, The European environment — State and outlook 2005, Ireland is now ranked the bottom of the European environment league, not least because of our performance in respect of our emissions——
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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——but also in respect of ozone, municipal waste and acidifying substances.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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The Minister will be relegated.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The report is blunt about the wider implications of the failure to curb carbon emissions and warns that extreme weather will lead to loss of life and lifestyle as well as to severe economic problems on a global scale. When a team ends up at the bottom of the league table, has been consistently at the bottom over a long period——
Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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It is time to relegate the Minister.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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——and is losing matches and getting red cards from the European Commission——
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Left, right and centre.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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——regarding all kinds of environmental matters——
Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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In the league, they would sack the manager.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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——the manager's position comes into focus.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Bring in Roy Keane.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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A good flourish. The Deputy opposes every proposal to deal with this issue.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Minister's time is up. Since 1980, 64% of catastrophic events have been attributable to weather and climate extremes. The European Environment Agency report singles Ireland out for comment on carbon emissions, stating that we face a major challenge if we are to meet our Kyoto Protocol limit of 13% above our 1990 level. This holds true in the week that the parties to the protocol meet in Montreal, where we are obliged under Article 3 of the protocol to show demonstrable progress towards meeting our commitments. All we can now show is demonstrable progress on ignoring our commitments.
For all these reasons, this Bill is timely. If the Government had done what it said it would do, or even half of what it said it would do, perhaps we would not need such a Bill, but it is clear that imposing a legal obligation on the Government to adhere to its commitments is necessary. The Bill sets down a number of important responsibilities for the Minsters for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, including the publication of annual reports outlining the success of Ireland's efforts to achieve carbon emission reductions and renewable energy supply targets. Where the required reductions or targets have not been met the Minister in question will be required to report this to the House with the intended solutions to ensure the targets are subsequently met.
The Bill is forward-looking and plans for emission targets up to 2050, which many experts agree is the critical date by which temperature stabilisation must be achieved. If the many specific targets and measures that were detailed in the national climate change strategy had been given any priority, perhaps we would not have needed to introduce this Bill in the House. However, since the approach to the implementation of the strategy has been largely half-hearted, the Bill is not just a good idea but is necessary.
The key initiatives planned in the national climate change strategy include carbon energy taxation, use of emissions trading, measures supportive of ending coal-firing at Moneypoint, fuel switching to low and zero carbon fuels, livestock reductions and lower fertiliser use, fuel efficiency, demand management and modal shift in transport, energy efficiency in construction, and adjustment of the new house grant. Little or no progress has been made in respect of any of these.
We are constantly being told by the Minister and the Minister of State that considerable numbers of residential buildings are being built in this country. Since the Kyoto Protocol was agreed, approximately one quarter of the country's entire housing stock has been built and thus we have completely missed an opportunity.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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An opportunity presented itself to build these dwellings in an energy-efficient way.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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It is a question of the bottom line.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The European directive on the energy performance of buildings, which will introduce the energy labelling of buildings, is supposed to be implemented on 1 January 2006, but the Government is looking for a derogation in respect of it. It wants three more years, in which it will build more dwellings with nine-inch cavity blocks to a standard that will cause expense and grief to those who buy them. It has missed a great opportunity.
Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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The Cayman Islands club——
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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It is wrong to look at the Kyoto Protocol targets and the issue of the climate change strategy in a negative way. They would provide a great opportunity for this country if we had a Government with the imagination and will to act upon them. I refer to the opportunity and challenge to become self-sufficient in energy production, to change our agricultural focus from the production of food to the production of raw material for energy, to move to the top in terms of energy conservation and to have an environment of which all of us can be proud rather than the litany of embarrassments to which we are subjected week in, week out on the publication of every new report by the European Commission or some European agency. These reports point, rightly, to the abject failure of the Government to deliver on the important issue of climate change and its own climate change strategy. It has failed by its own standards.
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear. It is a litany of failures and a disgrace.
Peter Kelly (Longford-Roscommon, Fianna Fail)
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We all agree that climate change is happening and will happen, but I am confident that our environment is in very capable hands.
Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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I love the Deputy's innocence.
Peter Kelly (Longford-Roscommon, Fianna Fail)
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The two most responsible environmentally friendly politicians in the House are the Minister, Deputy Roche, and his colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern.
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Minister is getting embarrassed.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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The Minister is an environmentalist and the Taoiseach is a socialist.
Peter Kelly (Longford-Roscommon, Fianna Fail)
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There is no doubt in anybody's mind about that. The economy has been mentioned in this debate. Everybody recognises, and I thank the Opposition for recognising on numerous occasions, that the economy is in the best shape ever because this is the best ever Government to manage it. We have low taxes and high employment.
Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The Deputy will have to do more work than that before he gets to the chapel gate.
Peter Kelly (Longford-Roscommon, Fianna Fail)
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The facts are clear — fiction is one thing but facts are another. We must put the country first and there is no need for this Bill at this time.
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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There is no need for the country either.
Peter Kelly (Longford-Roscommon, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has taken a very sensible approach to this issue and we should not rush into matters.
Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should take a bow.
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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That will not happen anyway.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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The approach has been one of dishonesty and cowardice. The Minister is being dishonest with the Irish people if he believes we cannot look to the future and take it into account.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy can do better than that. The Opposition Members have not got a single——
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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——solution between the lot of them.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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On the Minister's own record.
Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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Deputy Kelly, without interruption.
Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Everyone should praise the Minister a bit more.
Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)
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Politics should be about being real, straight and honest.
Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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Deputy Kelly to continue.
Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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The Deputy should name one achievement in this area. All the indicators suggest we are bottom of the league, and the Minister is responsible.
Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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Order, please. Deputy Kelly should continue.
Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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There are many different leagues and if the Opposition wants to talk about them it should note that we are No. 1 in the leagues pertaining to roads, water and sewerage systems, housing, jobs, health and education.
Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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What about families on local authority housing lists?
Peter Kelly (Longford-Roscommon, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland is the best country in the world. I compliment the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, on the fantastic job he is doing regarding housing. In County Longford, if it is left to the county council, the officials, councillors and other local politicians, there will be good housing records because the Minister of State has given the lead and has provided the money.