Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I requested a copy when the Minister of State came to the Chamber but it was not circulated to Members until just this moment. It is really necessary to have a copy of the statement when the Minister comes into the House, as it gives Members a better opportunity to keep up with the points.

My view of the climate crisis in recent months is ever more coloured by my experience of being a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government. Day after day I hear directly about the ever increasing scale of our shameful housing and homelessness crisis. There are now 8,492 people homeless in Ireland, of whom 3,194 are children. These 3,194 children are homeless at Christmas. There is a huge demand for social housing that can and should be designed and built to the highest energy efficiency and environmental standards. As I stated in my previous speech when the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, was present in the House, there is no mention of climate justice in the national mitigation plan or the 2012 plan and the most recent national adaptation framework. This is in direct conflict with section 3(2)(c) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, which places a legal obligation on the Minister to have regard to climate justice in developing a national mitigation plan and national climate change adaptation framework. In the words of the former President, Mary Robinson, Climate justice is "a human-centred approach, safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable and sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its impacts equitably and fairly."

I would like to know how the Department for Housing, Planning and Local Government has had regard to climate justice when developing its sectoral adaptation and mitigation plans and frameworks? Climate change has been described by the UN as the ultimate threat multiplier. The lack of preparation to provide extra accommodation for rough sleepers during Storm Ophelia was a case in point. All scientific evidence of climate change points to increased incidence of high-impact storms in Ireland, not to mention flooding, drought and unpredictable weather. The weather forecast for this weekend is of very high winds, up to 110 mph. This weekend, Storm Caroline is forecast to come in, that is, another storm in the context of the unpredictability and frequency of weather. This adds to the dilemma of climate change.

With a record high of 184 people now sleeping rough in Dublin city on 7 November in the freezing cold - and in the space of one week, a third homeless persons was found dead this morning - reading the vague non-committal national mitigation plan and the national adaptation framework, I regret to say that I do not have much hope for the Department's preparations for the oncoming climate crisis and its future storms.

There are more positive things to look forward to from the Department. The national mitigation plan states it will develop proposals to establish regional climate action offices to co-ordinate the local authority response to climate change and climate action. Local authorities are best placed to tackle climate change mitigation and adaptation and public awareness.Six local authorities in Ireland already have signed up to the covenant of mayors, my own Waterford City and County Council included. However, despite this clear willingness to engage on the part of local authorities, there is still a lack of understanding of climate issues at a local level caused by a lack of staff and monetary resources. The regional climate action mentioned in the national mitigation plan should include an energy officer and a climate action officer in each local authority. These officers need to be professional, high-level, technically adept champions of the issue with an understanding of how local authorities work. As Senator Coffey pointed out, we have a generation of green schoolchildren and teenagers coming through the schools and the universities and there are, no doubt, well-qualified, competent professionals for these roles.

Ireland at European level is arguing that the energy efficiency directive must include national objectives to fight energy poverty. This is welcome work that integrates a climate justice perspective. However, social housing has been excluded by the Irish Government from the EU's nearly zero-energy buildings directive being implemented from 31 December 2018. This is a backwards step for the Department and has serious implications for energy poverty and air quality in housing. The nearly zero-energy buildings standard is the warmest, most energy efficient that there is and public housing tenants deserve that. It also means fewer subsidies to dirty fuels that the EPA states is directly linked to dangerous air quality.

The national planning framework also plays a major role in reducing our carbon emissions and should have as a national investment priority the decarbonisation of our economy. We also need to implement a planning framework that decarbonises our energy system in a fair and equitable manner. Communities must feel part of the change to a low carbon energy system. Public buildings, schools, churches and community halls should be covered with solar panels, like in many other countries, generating energy and wealth for the community with a wholesale price for solar energy, as recommended by the Citizens' Assembly.

The Green Party believes that a better development model can be achieved through the creation of a national community energy strategy, operating in tandem with the national planning framework with specific targets. Flooding must also be integrated into the framework as a matter of urgency.