Derek McDowell (Labour)

I move:

That Seanad Éireann condemns the abject failure of the Government to meet the targets set out in the National Climate Change Strategy 2000.

This motion seeks to address the issue of climate change in the context of the Government's stated policy established in 2000 when it set out a number of actions it would take over the succeeding decade specifically intended to meet the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol which was not in force at that time.

Governments occasionally get things wrong and they occasionally do not progress matters as fast as they might and sometimes they have a change of mind, but there are very few examples of an area of policy where there has been such an abject failure to meet any of the targets the Government had set for itself or to take any of the actions it deemed necessary.

The programme is a relatively slight document of only a dozen pages but it pushes most of the buttons that are still of relevance. I will refer to a number of those measures to assess how much has been done in response to the programme.

It begins by referring to cross-sectoral market-based instruments including taxation. It states that appropriate tax measures prioritising CO2 emissions will be introduced in 2002 on a phased incremental basis across a broad range of sectors. This is an interesting example of how the Government has dealt with this issue. In 2001 the Government announced it would introduce carbon taxes on a cross-sectoral basis with burden-sharing involved. However, it added the important rider that it would not do so for at least another year. I recall Charlie McCreevy standing up in the other House and announcing he intended to introduce carbon taxes but he felt it was appropriate to ask the tax strategy group and others to have a look at how it might be done. Money was spent on consultancies and he consulted with the social partners. A general election was held conveniently about three or four months later and it was a surprise that by the end of the year the then Minister, Mr. McCreevy, decided that rather than introduce cross-sectoral taxes on a phased basis, he decided to do nothing at all. Nothing was done then nor since.

The 2000 plan refers to EU emissions trading and this has become a central part of the Government strategy. With reference to the energy sector it states that measures will be taken which will be supportive of the ceasing of coal use at Moneypoint by 2008 and fuel switching towards less carbon-intensive fuels. The Government subsequently decided to do nothing of the sort. Moneypoint is still using coal and, if we are to believe the recommendations of the energy White Paper published last week, the Government intends to use more rather than less coal in the generation of electricity in years to come.

The plan refers to an expansion of renewable energy. Some small progress has been made in this regard but only 4% of our electricity generation capacity is in renewable energy. The Government produced a target of no less than 33% in the energy White Paper last week.