Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome today's publication of the national climate change mitigation plan. I would welcome a debate on the matter. It is one of the issues of our time. The Government is often criticised for being lax or not wanting to pursue targets, but that is not true. At a high level, everyone agrees that something must be done. There is no dispute. Every day of the week, we are told that there has been a natural disaster, people cannot harvest their crops and so on in some part of the planet on account of climate change. I would like us to have a realistic debate about this, which I have not often heard in the Chamber. I have heard the Government being chastised and people beating their chests about this or that being terrible.

I would like a debate on the question of the plan's desirability, with which most people agree, but let us first get down to the nitty gritty of how the plan will be implemented. Take the issue of fuel poverty, for example. We placed a carbon tax on coal, but those who are most affected are people who can least afford to change their heating systems to a green or renewable energy source. What about the cost to businesses, farms and households at a fragile time? We have just exited a bad economic situation and are facing into Brexit.

What of renewable energy infrastructure? People are right to ask whether there will be further drilling for and harvesting of gas and oil and I watched a programme not too long ago about the need to close down peat-burning power stations for obvious reasons, but there is no debate about the economic impact that these factors will have on communities. What are the alternatives?

Another issue arises as we try to hit our renewable heating and electricity targets. Friends of the Earth tell us about the targets that we ought to be achieving. I agree with it, but when a renewable energy project - a wind turbine or pylon - is to be built, it makes no contribution as to why the project should go there and how a community should be accommodated.There is no talk about communities, which have to accommodate this infrastructure, at all. Much of the debate is based in unreality. I would like to have a conversation about how we achieve these targets, taking on board the legitimate concerns.