Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an Aire go dtí an Teach. Gabhaim comhghairdeas leis agus leis an Rialtas as an dea-obair atá déanta acu ar son an chomhshaoil. Cuirim fáilte speisialta roimh na moltaí ón gcomhchoiste. Admhaím go bhfuil a lán déanta, ach tá a lán le déanamh fós. I welcome the Minister to the House and commend him and the Government on the initiatives they have taken with regard to protection of the environment. I especially welcome the proposals from the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security. To use the adage, there is a lot done but quite a bit more to do. This is an extremely important subject and I compliment the Minister, and the Government in general, on the proactive manner in which they have approached it. There is a dawning realisation in society in general that there must be a clear focus with regard to protection of the environment. We all share this planet and we have a collective responsibility to ensure it is maintained not only for the current generation but for those who live on it when we are long dead and gone.

I welcome this report from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security, the first since it was established in November 2007. The report examines the potential implications for Ireland of the highly significant EU proposals on climate change and energy security. These include the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, as has been mentioned, and a target of 20% renewable energy to be used throughout the EU by the same year.

Senator O'Reilly mentioned co-operatives and shared energy. I agree with him. We must look back at what happened in the old days when we had the old methods of farming. These were a practical way of ensuring that the amount of energy used was kept to a minimum and used with maximum efficiency. We are of course talking about asses and carts, ponies and carts or horses and carts, while today we are talking about tractors, combine harvesters and a whole range of farm machinery. In those days there were few of these around — in most places they did not exist at all. There was the reaper and binder and there was the mowing machine, which in some cases was horse drawn, and there was the hay buggy. We had the ass and cart or the horse and cart drawing home the hay. Five or six people — maybe more, maybe less — got together and helped each other out. That does not happen to any great extent now, and it is a pity. Especially in this mechanised age, it would be a good way to reduce atmospheric emissions from machinery.

There is great talk today about alternative energy. We have to examine it seriously. We are fortunate to be in Western Europe. We are fortunate, for many reasons, to be an island country. I will not elaborate but they touch on other strata of life that does not make good hearing. We can return to this aspect on another occasion.

We have some very important natural resources. Our peat bogs are a natural resource that is fast disappearing. There has been mention of the abolition of the farming of peat on a commercial but not a domestic scale. That is welcome but we must realise we are unique in Europe in respect of these resources. In many other countries they have disappeared. To borrow a phrase that might pertain to the north eastern part of the country, "What we have we will hold". We will not give them away. I have no apologies for saying that.

We must look at how we do our business. We have to look at how we travel to work. For example, the members of 20 households could travel to work in 20 cars, or more in some cases. Is that necessary? Are we putting public transport to its optimum use? The answer is "No". Are we making use of the Minister's modus operandi, the bicycle, as much as we should be? Again, the answer is "No". We are not walking as much as we should. The result of this is rising levels of obesity. We are the highest in the league for this, and must deal with all the attendant difficulties. That is a debate for another day.

Are we engaging in the appropriate education of our children and teaching them that our environment is the most important thing we have, and the poorest and most deprived, socially and economically, can make a serious bequest to prosperity by ensuring they do their bit to ensure they leave behind a clean environment? It is a common objective we should all share. We have not been doing so. We have been whistling past the graveyard, and now the graveyard is on both sides of the road. What are we doing to address this?

Senator O'Reilly raised the matter of insulation grants. The princely sum of €45 million has been provided this year for insulation. That is for all schemes. It is a sizeable amount of money. There are issues regarding house insulation and construction. We all live in houses; we have the highest home ownership in Europe. That is a proud boast. In making it we are not saying we are great but perhaps we agree with those who say we are.

We must adopt a more proactive approach to the matter of climate change and protecting the environment. We must also ensure the flora and fauna on this planet and island remains, and we do our bit to protect it. We must maintain the right ecological balance.

Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions represent only 1% of EU emissions, but our per capita emissions are the fifth highest in the world. It is not a great place to be. There is nothing to brag about. This indicates we need to play our role within the EU to find workable solutions to reduce our level of emissions. This report examined EU proposals regarding EU emissions trading, sharing of emissions, and reductions and promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. I touched on that. As a country we must react to these proposals. There must be a cut in carbon emissions and a reduction in the use of fossil fuels. Adaptation is the key. I used the word "react". It is a pity we have to be reactive and it is a great pity we have not been proactive. It would be far better if we were.

It is becoming apparent that climate change is everybody's business, no matter who they are. It is nothing new. The world's climate has changed in the past due to natural causes. At present, however, our climate is changing due to human causes. The earth is heating up at a rate which poses a major challenge to all. There is no doubt human activities are adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. This enhances the greenhouse effect and is making the world warmer.

Experts suggest that over the last century, the average surface air temperature in Europe increased by almost 1° Celsius. The 20th century was the warmest century and the 1990s was the warmest decade of the past 1,000 years. That is not a great boast. Some reports predict a rise in temperature by 2100 of between 1.4° and 6.4° Celsius worldwide. The European environmental agency suggests it may be between 2° and 6.3° Celsius in Europe. As a planet, the probable consequences of global warming for our natural environment include more powerful and destructive storms and hurricanes, more flooding and natural disasters, more extreme heat waves, less productive agriculture and reduced availability of a very important factor in food production, fresh water.

There is also the challenge of endangered food security, more fires and drought, high sea-levels and increased coastal erosion, extinction of species and increased spread of vector bourne disease such as malaria. All of this highlights the importance of tackling this issue.

We have all inherited this planet. We can make a major contribution to those who follow. Hopefully they will take on the mantle that we have taken on board, doing our bit to ensure there is a clean and vibrant environment. The Government is doing its bit; let everyone else do theirs as well.