Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Fianna Fáil recognises that climate change is one of the most, if not the most, pressing moral and practical challenges of our generation. In this regard, we need look no further than the recent flooding in Inishowen, the widespread drought in southern and eastern Africa and the devastating extreme weather events in the United States. During a recent weather event, Hurricane Ophelia, this country virtually shut down because we were not clear about how it would impact on us. During that event three lives were lost. We did not understand the importance of this weather event until it had passed.

Scientists have said that storms, flooding, hazardous weather and extreme weather events, once called once-in-a-lifetime events, are becoming more frequent because of climate change. In the global age of Trump and climate change sceptics, we in Ireland are doing a terrific job of ignoring climate change, seeing it as an issue only the rich fossil fuel companies have to worry about, but the pensioner in Donegal still experiencing the after-effects of the tail end of Hurricane Gert, who has to stock the front-door with sandbags before she can sleep, is worried about climate change. We need to worry about climate change.

While we welcome the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act, we have a number of concerns around the manner in which it was drafted and how it will be implemented. With regard to Ireland's housing stock, not enough has been done to retrofit this housing stock. There is no comprehensive retrofit programme. Furthermore, there is no programme targeting the rental sector despite that there are almost 500,000 homes in this rapidly expanding sector. Fianna Fáil supports the green deal initiative and the energy agency, which will act as a one-stop shop, providing access to low-cost finance and expert advice to people who want to upgrade the energy and efficiency of their homes.

As things stands, Ireland is all but certain to fail to meet its 2020 targets. Recent figures show that our greenhouse gas emissions increased by 3.5% in the past year. This means we will face fines of at least €455 million. When elected, the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, claimed that the Government would develop a climate change plan and that he would provide for additional investment in this regard in budget 2018. Our transport energy and home heating sector accounts for almost half of our emissions. The Government has dragged its heels on the renewable energy support scheme and the renewable heating incentive scheme which has more or less frozen development in the renewable energy sector. Despite paying lip service to renewable transport, the Government has effectively given up on meeting our targets by 2020.

Home heating is an area in which Ireland has made relatively little progress, with just 6.5% of home heating coming from renewable sources in 2015. For example, fuel poverty is estimated to affect between 200,000 and 400,000 Irish households every year. Even if a home is not experiencing fuel poverty, retrofitting and energy upgrading create more comfortable and cosy homes that are of a higher quality. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of homes receiving grant aid to retrofit their homes declined by 77%. The Government continues to provide only small grants via the local authorities for wall insulation, lagging jackets and attic insulation. While I welcome that provision, funding for windows, doors and proper heating is not being made available. We need to invest in this area. I am being approached constantly by people who need work done but there is no proper funding in place to facilitate that work. As I said, this issue needs to be addressed. As current measures for retrofitting focus on only on social housing, privately owned or owner-occupied homes, the rental sector is missing out.There are over 500,000 homes in the rental sector but people living in rented accommodation are twice as likely to live in a home with a poor energy rating than owner occupiers. We must invest in that area.

Fianna Fáil will introduce a new green deal agency under the SEAI which will provide expert advice and low-cost financing to people who want to upgrade their homes. We will introduce a new pay as you go model, similar to the German model which is working extremely well. Approximately 160,000 social houses would be eligible for funding. The scheme would operate through the local authorities and the SEAI green home agency. The green home agency would provide low-cost loans to private home owners and landlords to invest in green initiatives in their homes. We need to provide incentives. Landlords must invest in their properties and I am sure the Minister will consider this carefully.

Fianna Fáil has devised a national plan to lower Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions and a national framework to provide for a response to changes caused by climate change. These two plans would be renewed every five years. It is also looking at the establishment of an advisory council on climate change policy. We are on this planet and it is our only home. We owe the future to our children and we cannot give them a half used one. I ask the Minister to act now. I know he is working on increasing funding for these areas and this is crucial. We have a housing crisis and there are many people living in houses that are cold because they are not up to standard. There is no funding available to them. We need to make sure that people are living in appropriate accommodation. The weather is so bad these days that we cannot tell our winters from our summers anymore. We used to have a winter wardrobe and a summer wardrobe but not any more. We need to act on it now because it is urgent.