Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He was here earlier for a Commencement debate. As Senator Landy has said, the Labour Party produced a climate change Bill in 2009. Our official briefing document refers to how in 2010 the then Minister, John Gormley, stated that his Bill would provide a strong legislative framework to support the transition to a low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable economy. I have worked off the version of the Bill as passed by the Dáil. It is still too long. I appreciate the statement of the Minister of State to the effect that he has reduced many of the delays. The title of the latest book from Nicholas Sterns is Why Are We Waiting? The Logic, Urgency and Promise of Tackling Climate Change. We have known about this for such a long time. I accept what the Minister of State has done to reduce time delays, but the Bill is replete with delay. Page 9 refers to a 24-month delay. I am unsure exactly what that incorporates. For what they are worth, my amendments would set down a six-month period in which to set in train the national climate change adaptation framework. This is not exactly news. The Labour Party knew about this in 2009 and the Green Party knew about it in 2010. There are also delays when reports come out, as they sit on the Minister's desk. I imagine the Minister of State will tackle those, as per his contribution.

Let us get this out in the open. I am influenced in this regard by my experience as a member of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis. The crisis was so obvious for so long, but all of the directly involved bureaucrats and interest groups simply sat around. Left to themselves, they will do that in the case of climate change as well. I want the Oireachtas involved far more. I will table several amendments on the next Stage. There are numerous references to cases in which the Minister or the Department must consider something. I am keen for the entire Oireachtas to be involved. We have seen the disasters that followed when we left things to quangos, agencies and bureaucrats in the banking sector. They are not naturally lively, activated, self-starting bodies. They seem to slumber into torpor. I want this to be actively pursued. I will offer the Minister of State some good news. The Paris conference begins at the end of November and will go into early December. Let us do this.

Section 6 states that the Government may vary a sectoral adaptation plan. I would have thought any variations in sectoral adaptation plans should be considered by the Oireachtas.

There is detail on the advisory council. Why can we not have independent people on the council from environmental departments in the universities, such as UCC, Trinity College Dublin and UCD? Teagasc represents the agriculture sector, a major polluter in this country. Therefore, the director of Teagasc is compromised on any environment committee. At the least there should be a balance among those directly involved.

What about the Economic and Social Research Institute? The minutes of the banking inquiry recorded that if officials in the Department of Finance did not like what the ESRI said about the economy, they would telephone the institute and complain. "Nervous Nelly" is what John FitzGerald, our distinguished friend, called the Department of Finance. We cannot allow that to happen with regard to the environment. If someone in the Custom House does not like what an independent body is doing, that is tough cheese - we will come to the House and debate it. The independent articles that the ESRI used to publish on economic matters were cancelled and became solely in-house. I want to see the Royal Irish Academy, the Irish Universities Association and professors of environmental science participating. I want to see the Oireachtas participating. I want far fewer delays.

Section 9 states that the Environmental Protection Agency shall provide the advisory council with secretarial and bureaucratic services, premises and so on. I want independence in this area. Unfortunately, regulatory capture is a feature of the way Governments operate. We had contrarians in the banking sector, but the consensus was artificially contrived by ignoring contrarians such as Morgan Kelly, who had studied 40 bank collapses. If there are people with different views on environmental matters, that is great news. I am keen for them to be inside, participating in these policy discussions.

Section 12 refers to a 30-day delay in respect of the publication of reports. I want no intervals. Section 14 refers to a 12-month delay in bringing the annual transition statements to Dáil Éireann. There is a reference to a deadline in respect of the work of the advisory council being not later than 30 days. We should speed up all these operations. We have been waiting long enough on these matters.

I am an optimist. We have reduced the consumption of plastic bags per head in Ireland by 95%. One part of the United Kingdom, England, got around to doing that last week. That was a success, as were the smoky coal restraints that we put in place. We can do this.

Like other Senators, I am concerned about rising sea levels. Mark Carney is an Irish passport holder and the current governor of the Bank of England. He had a distinguished record in Canada beforehand. He has pointed out that approximately 30% more damage was caused by super storm Sandy in New York because of rising sea levels. We should monitor that as a matter of priority.

Is there scope for carbon capture as we try to decarbonise the economy? On the optimistic side, the Montreal Protocol of 1987 phased out harmful substances which led to ozone layer depletion. We can do this; there is no doubt about it. There is much to be optimistic about. As with plastic bags, let us get rid of plastic cups and cutlery too.

Let us consider the Volkswagen scandal. We need a climate disclosure task force. Let us have the whistleblowers ring up and state that Volkswagen has technology that tells lies about the amount of carbon and poisonous substances that those cars are emitting. That should be one of the Paris items. That a major corporation engaged in that level of deceit is no good for the future of the planet.

The Minister should involve the financial sector. Let us consider issues such as the flooding of Cork city. The insurance sector has great deal of work to do as rain increases, sea levels rise and so on. As Mark Carney has said, the financial services sector is addressing these problems and developing the intellectual capacity to help governments to deal with matters of climate change.

I would have preferred if the Bill was more radical, but I trust that the Minister of State will consider my comments before the next stage. Nicholas Stern has referred to how the current generation of fridges use 75% less electricity than those from the 1950s. I imagine the Minister of State's fellow county man, Martin Naughton, deserves some of the credit for that. The current generation of aircraft is far more fuel-efficient than those in the past. We can make progress and there are many good ideas. We should bring in more of the contrarians, including those in the Seanad - we would be delighted to assist the Minister of State in progressing the measures. I will be tabling amendments on Committee Stage to speed up the process. We have dilly-dallied around this issue for the best part of six years.