Seanad debates

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015: Statements

 

10:30 am

Photo of Tim LombardTim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House for this very important item. It is the item of a generation and, while we looked at it a few years ago, we are now tasked with moving this agenda forward as it is one of the key issues for us. Unless this generation deals with climate change the next generations will, unfortunately, suffer. It is a major task for this Minister, this Government and for the nation itself. Unfortunately, we have a major challenge in managing an economy that is growing while keeping carbon emissions at a certain level. We have had changes in the agricultural sector and in manufacturing as well as an increase in population density, which have had a knock-on effect on us.

A report of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine a few weeks ago on the grain industry shows the change there has been in the sector. There were 2,500 hectares in tillage up to three years ago but it could be as low as 1,500 this year and there is a huge impact on carbon emissions from the transition from tillage to beef and, especially, to dairy. These are challenges that need to be taken on board by the Government as a whole and I have spoken to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine about them. We have to be proactive and find solutions. The Minister rightly mentioned genomics in the beef industry, which is a very important scheme that shows the potential of putting science into the industry. We have to promote science and the interaction among all agencies.

Electric cars will be one of the big things in the next few years and we have to work on the move away from diesel. It has to be done through monetary proposals and by encouraging people and educating them as to the benefits of electric cars. We have to change our view of what is an appropriate method of transportation.

A bugbear of mine is how we run our economy. We are running an e-economy and I noted this evening that the Minister had no speech to be handed out to Members of the House. We need to change how Government does these things and we have to ask if we need a written speech for every single person. Does this House require it? We all have iPads so does the Government now need to go paperless? It would be a very positive step and would show the ambition we need to have. It is a small thing but it would show the next generation what we need to do. We learn not so much from our elders but from the generation below us. My daughters are aged six and seven and can use an iPad a lot better than I can. They move in that circle and do not understand why I need a written speech or why I write things down. We need to look at the younger generation in this regard.

I propose that we move on electric cars but also that the Government should go paperless as soon as it possibly can. The Houses of the Oireachtas should also go paperless and we should move away from looking for the Minister's speech at the start of a debate as this is not the signal the Oireachtas should be giving. This is a key issue for society and one we have to grapple with or history will not show us in a good light.

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