Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the opportunity to update the Government and the House on what was termed by the CEO of Bord na Móna last October as the acceleration of decarbonisation. That acceleration has turned into a speed wobble.

There is an increasing number of bog closures. The initial announcement referred to 17. Last week, a further four were added to the list. There is an increasing number of redundancies. At the time of the announcement, we were told that the number would be in the region of 400. It is now at 600 plus. There is an increasing impact on local communities and a threat to the future of the co-firing plants at Shannonbridge, Lough Ree and Edenderry. There is no correlation between the income generated by the existing carbon tax, let along the multiple of four that is being discussed, and any benefit to my county of Offaly and the midlands region more widely, which are suffering the most from the decarbonisation programme. Allied to that, there has been no application by the Government to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund or the coal regions in transition fund, which was set up last year, as promised. It took a visit to the European Commission by a local councillor in Offaly, Mr. Eamon Dooley, and me to find that out.

We sought and welcomed the Government's establishment of the just transition forum, but it lacks the teeth and money it needs to do the work it must. Notwithstanding that, we appreciate its combined efforts with Departments and the training funds of ETBs and Athlone IT, and the role played by local representatives in that process, to upskill, match skills and help.

However, I was disappointed to learn last week that discussions had been ongoing between Bord na Móna and the relevant Department on the subvention of biomass. Following the announcement, I was assured at an Oireachtas committee meeting by the CEO of Bord na Móna that, despite the obvious and glaring difficulties that might arise with the post-PSO pricing mechanism at ESB and the lack of incentives for biomass growing in Ireland, let alone imports from South Africa and elsewhere, Bord na Móna had included in its costings these variables, was happy and could give me and others the commitment that co-firing would continue. Alas, I learned last week after inquiring into the reason for the four bog closures that they were feeder bogs for co-firing at the three plants in question. Not only will 50 jobs associated with those bogs be lost, but their closure creates an obvious threat to the power plants themselves. That will have a major knock-on effect for communities.

The chief executive officer of Bord na Móna said at the time of the announcement that the company staff get the programme and the need for decarbonisation and the communities in Offaly and beyond recognise the need for transition. They had, however, hoped and would appreciate if it were a just transition. In order for it to be a just transition, the Government must match that effort and commitment with funding and provide real opportunities for alternative forms of employment to be found. That has unfortunately been seriously lacking to date.

I accept that the line Minister cannot be here today and that he will respond in writing in more detail next week. I also appreciate the Minister of State's efforts on this. Nonetheless, I would have thought that, far from waiting on a six-month report from the just transition forum, the Minister would listen to members of Fine Gael and the Government, whatever about listening to me. This is having a severe impact and is akin to the Government sitting on its hands or turning out the lights on Offaly and the midlands and allowing it to drift.

The carbon tax is Fianna Fáil policy and I hope it is the policy of this Government and any incoming Government to allow for the ring-fencing of revenue generated by carbon tax to be immediately directed and targeted at areas such as County Offaly which is feeling the impact of the transition.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Cowen for raising this issue, which I am pleased to take on behalf of the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton. I will relay the his comments and concerns to the Minister. As the Deputy said, he accepts the Minister's apologies for not being here. He is not in the House at the moment and is unable to take the question but he will revert in writing to the Deputy with further information next week. I know Deputy Cowen has already raised some of these issues with the Minister.

As set out in the national development plan, the Government intends that, by 2030, peat and coal will no longer have a role in electricity generation in Ireland. This is in line with Ireland’s commitments under the Paris Agreement and the national policy position which sets out a long-term vision of an aggregate reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of at least 80% compared with 1990 levels by 2050 across the electricity generation, built environment and transport sectors.

The three electricity generating plants in the midlands have a total generating capacity of 378 MW. Edenderry is a 128 MW plant owned and operated by Bord na Móna and is fuelled with a mix of peat and biomass. Under the Department’s REFIT 3 support scheme, it has support for co-firing with up to 30% biomass up to 2030. Edenderry has planning permission to co-fire with biomass up to 2023. It is Bord na Móna’s intention to operate the plant fully on biomass by 2028 if planning permission beyond 2023 is received.

The plants at Lough Ree, a 100 MW plant, and west Offaly, a 150 MW plant, are both owned and operated by the ESB. Both have support under the public service obligation to fuel with peat but this support ends in December this year. Both plants have been granted support under REFIT 3 for co-firing with up to 30% biomass up to 2030. The ESB is in the process of seeking planning permission to co-fire with biomass in the plants at Lough Ree and west Offaly.

The ESB is fully committed to this process as part of its strategy to lead decarbonisation in Ireland. As part of this strategy, it is anticipated that both plants will co-fire peat and biomass as soon as planning is obtained with the intention of using only biomass by 2027. Decisions on these applications are likely to be made in the later stages of 2019. An oral hearing has been scheduled for 16 April in relation to the west Offaly plant.

Bord na Móna has outlined to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment a revised plan for reducing the amount of peat in the three plants up to 2028 and replacing with biomass. As the rate of biomass co-firing increases, the total biomass requirement in 2029 is expected to be about 2.6 million tonnes. This transition from peat to biomass would increase the amount of renewable electricity on the system and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions relative to the plants continuing to run with support of 30% biomass. This is based on a number of assumptions, including that all three plants receive planning permission to co-fire peat with biomass up to 2027 or 2028, that all three plants secure additional support to produce additional renewable electricity from biomass and that, by the mid-2020s, additional quantities of indigenous biomass are available. If this plan is implemented, Bord na Móna would complete the transition out of peat production for electricity generation by December 2028, which is two years ahead of the original commitment under its 2016 sustainability 2030 policy to cease use of peat in electricity generation by 2030.

Among the recommendations of the all-party Joint Committee on Climate Action in its recent report is that the Government re-evaluate its co-firing subsidy for peat and biomass given environmental concerns identified by the Climate Change Advisory Council and that both Bord na Móna and the ESB re-evaluate their future plans for biomass due to the lack of an indigenous supply. As I mentioned, the support for the use of peat in electricity generation for the two ESB plants ends this year. The support for Edenderry ended in 2015. All three plants referred to have support for up to 30% biomass to 2030.

The Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment is examining the recommendations of the joint committee. In the context of the just transition, where no region will be left behind in the transition to a low-carbon economy, the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Environment, Deputy Bruton, has recently written to the European Commission requesting the inclusion of the midlands region on the coal regions in transition platform. The main objectives of the platform are to enable multi-stakeholder dialogue on policy frameworks for successful transformation of carbon-intensive regions and to facilitate the development of strategies and projects in areas such as investment for structural transformation, growth and jobs.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his response and I appreciate that he cannot get into the belly of what I had to say. I expect the Minister to respond more appropriately to what I have said.

The Edenderry power plant permission was granted after much deliberation by the courts and it is a blueprint and precedent by which I expect the other two applications for co-fuelling to be successful.

I hope the Government and its representatives respond as soon as practicable on the following matter about which I seek clarity. There is a commitment to co-fuel with biomass until 2028 at which time biomass will be exclusively used. That indicates that harvesting can continue until, let us say, 2026 and the stocks would be sufficient thereafter. I was only made aware at the end of a just transition forum meeting last week that four bogs have been suspended. These are the feeder bogs for the three power plants. That would seem to indicate that the discussions with the Department responsible are not likely to yield the result the plants would have hoped. That threatens the viability of the plants, the jobs within them and the communities they serve. Information about that should be forthcoming to me as soon as possible, hopefully next week, because I want to know the detail of the discussions, what has resulted from them and what now is Government policy if it contradicts what was there previously. That is not even to mention the wide-ranging issues surrounding the greater effect and impact of the ongoing decarbonisation which has, as I said, gone from acceleration to a speed wobble with an almighty crash waiting to happen. Those who will suffer are my constituents and not those from any other part of the country.

Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I am grateful for the Deputy's understanding that I am not on top of the brief and I cannot make policy statements in this area. I appreciate the Deputy being co-operative about that.

I have prepared a concluding statement which does not address the specific issues the Deputy raised. I will ensure the Minister reverts to him and I note the timeline he set out for having details provided to him on the discussions and the steps being taken, particularly on the issue of the bogs. I will ensure the Minister is aware of the Deputy's request to receive that information next week, if possible.