Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

What I have heard from the two main parties this evening does not encourage me that we are taking climate change seriously. All we get is an approach of "on the one hand but on the other". We must face down one of the largest lobby groups, namely the farmers’ organisations. We have tough choices to make and we have to show leadership. The debate is not about food security or how much beef or milk we can generate. While we have to ensure and secure a viable living can be had by those in rural areas, we cannot do that at the expense of climate change. I supported Senators when they raised the issue of the effects of climate change on tillage farmers who were unable to harvest their crops due to heavy rainfall on the western seaboard. However, we cannot start dealing with alternative facts.

Fianna Fáil stopped and blocked the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act when it was in government with the Green Party. It was up to the previous Government to get that legislation passed which is why the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is taking this matter in the House. Now, we need to be brave. This is not a charge from the anti-rural brigade or about an urban-rural divide. We need a realistic debate on climate change and how we reach our targets in this regard. We need to discuss how we will assist people to change over to the new reality that climate change is happening and will affect every single person in this country. We need to discuss how we invest in rural Ireland to ensure we alleviate these effects as much as possible. Change we must but the clock is ticking. It is two minutes to midnight and there is a real need to show leadership. Instead, it is just the old mantra about food security and how, on the one hand, we will do this and, on the other, we will do that.

I thank the Minister, as well as the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Denis Naughten, for attending the House to debate the issue of climate change. Unfortunately, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Shane Ross, has not attended.