Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the Senators for their contributions to this debate. A number of issues were raised to which I am not in a position to respond, but I will ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Kelly, to respond to them at a future sitting as this legislation winds its way through the legislative process.

I remind the House that we have included a number of amendments to the Bill, which I outlined earlier. It is worth repeating that we have included a reference to the principle of climate justice. We have also provided for a reduction in the timeframe for the production of the first mitigation plan from 24 to 18 months after the enactment of the Bill and included a specific statement that the climate change advisory council shall be independent in the performance of its functions. The latter is absolutely critical and was raised as a major issue when we commenced this process with public hearings a few years ago. I was a member of the Joint Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht at that time.

I wish to reassure Senator Bacik that once the Bill is enacted, the time frames for both mitigation and adaptation will commence. Senator Healy Eames spoke about the need to develop more awareness around climate change, and I agree with her completely. Swift enactment of this Bill will help communities across the country to understand the importance of awareness raising, attitude change and cultural change at every level in our society. The work of the climate change advisory council will also help in that respect. Our objective of including local and regional participation will go to the root of helping to raise awareness and ensuring that everybody understands his or her individual responsibility to take action in this regard.

The 18-month timeframe for the national mitigation plan is a maximum, and we must be conscious of that. I want to reassure the House that all efforts will be made to prepare this plan earlier. At the same time, however, we must respect the statutory consultation process, because none of us in this House could stand over a situation in which that process was not respected and abided by. I do not think anyone here would like to be accused of ignoring a statutory consultation process. We must respect that process at all times.

Senators made reference to section 7(2)(a) and (b) of the Bill. The language here is designed to respect the independence of the advisory council. I wish to state very clearly that the climate change advisory council was announced back in June and is already operational, in advance of the enactment of this legislation. The role of local authorities was also mentioned by Senators Landy, Keane and others. I consider the role of the local authorities in this area to be hugely important, particularly from the adaptation and mitigation perspectives. Regarding mitigation, we intend to adopt a bottom-up approach to complement the top-down sectoral approach. We want to encourage local and regional participation in this, and not necessarily to mandate a statutory contribution which would not necessarily achieve our objectives or aims.

Senators raised the issue of including a definition of low carbon, but I would be somewhat concerned about committing to such a definition in primary legislation for a number of reasons. We might end up, perversely, limiting the scope of what we can achieve into the future. I would also remind the House, as I said earlier, that the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government has included a reference to the national climate change policy, which needs to be considered in preparing our national mitigation plan.

In conclusion, it is fair to say that it has taken a long time for this legislation to reach the floor of this House. This is a very important debate and one that has been happening outside the House for a long period of time. We now have a Bill that can be enacted shortly - our first on climate change. I am proud of the contribution I have made to this, and that of everyone else in the Oireachtas. Now that we have the Bill before us, I would like to believe that we could provide a collective mandate to get on with the task ahead without further delay. We all share an appreciation of the nature and extent of the challenges that are posed to our society by climate change. Although the Bill before us could never be regarded as a silver bullet or a panacea of any kind for the global problem that besets us, it does constitute a hugely important milestone. It is a landmark in this jurisdiction for the mitigation and adaptation efforts that will be required over the coming decades.