Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Finneran. He is a regular attender here and always shows great support for the Seanad. I welcome also the statement made by the Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady, at the outset of the debate in which she reaffirmed the EU commitment to meeting the targets of the Kyoto Agreement about which there has been some doubt. Her affirmation was welcome in that regard.

As a member of the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security, I acknowledge the good work that committee has been doing in the past two and a half years under the chairmanship of Deputy Seán Barrett. Deputy Liz McManus produced a document last week on the need for legislation on climate change and, prior to that, Deputy Simon Coveney led the call for greater electrification of cars. That committee has been doing useful work and it is getting good support from the Government. I hope it will bring forward a Bill arising out of its deliberations in due course.

Global warming is a scientific certainty and it is a fact that it is being contributed to greatly by human activity. Only luddites believe the opposite. It is there to be seen. Every summer there is a new record in terms of heat and every winter we seem to have a new record in terms of flooding. In September Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, said we are like somebody driving a car with the foot stuck on the accelerator as we head towards the abyss. People must take notice of that.

Reading between the lines in terms of what is happening at the Copenhagen summit, sometimes the signs are good and at other times they are not so good. They do not seem to be great at the moment. As Senator Coffey said, it is welcome that President Barack Obama will attend the conference because there is huge expectation of and hope in him. It is a major challenge and it will be a test for him to see if something meaningful like a treaty can come out of the Copenhagen summit rather than pious platitudes. The strides that were made in Bali must be built upon and anything short of success in Copenhagen will be viewed as failure. There is no in between.

In regard to energy security, which is the flip side of climate change, we are all committed to renewable energy whether it is wind, wave or tidal. Entrepreneurs throughout the country are trying their best to get working on that but there appears to be a lack of joined-up thinking and cohesion about the whole area. I hope the Government will try to pull together the many forces involved in that.

People are taking different actions to try to make a contribution. As recently as last week a group in my home town called Energy Master, which is run by well-respected business people with a good track record, folded. Is that because people are not committed enough to this area? Are we talking the talk but not walking the walk in regard to renewable energy and so on? It comes down to our individual attitude. We all have our own individual carbon footprint, to use that cliché, but are we making that contribution? Are we turning off lights at home? Are we overdoing it in terms of heating our homes? I have three sons who think the switch is only for turning on electric appliances. They never turn off the switch and I am sure that is typical of rural Ireland. We leave doors open which causes draughts.

The Government must be commended on the proactive steps it has taken in regard to the retrofitting and insulation grants, as well as those affirmed in last night's budget. That is an important contribution the Government can make.

In fairness to the Green Party it has given a strong lead in the area of conservation. Its Government partners, Fianna Fáil, has always been an environmentally conscious party. There is a new impetus in the country. We are small but our contribution is invaluable.

The local authorities have a major role to play in this area. Some local authorities are responding better than others and without being parochial, in my last term as a councillor in Kerry our management team and councillors contributed to reducing the carbon footprint. I was not happy with what my colleague, Senator Dan Boyle, said about councillors attending conferences because many of the good ideas picked up by management at local authority level were initiated by the elected members-----