Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, an Teachta O'Donovan. It was damaging for Fine Gael to go along with the best efforts of the Government's spin unit by engaging in self-promotion in an attempt to dupe the country and its people. I have no problem in saying that this unit, which is too slick for its own good, is paid for by the public. People are aware that the funding for the unit is taken from the public purse. I do not think anybody can deny that this is what has happened. The national development plan is full of many pre-announced worthwhile projects. The national children's hospital, in my area of Dublin South-Central, is an example of a worthwhile project that has been announced on several occasions.

I want to concentrate firstly on the section of the plan dealing with climate change and climate action, which is probably the most important priority issue of our time and one of the biggest threats to our future. We know the Government will have to pay heavy fines for missing our EU 2020 climate action commitments. Its apathy to climate change is having an impact on our health. In recent years, the World Health Organization, WHO, has strongly stated that everything that goes with climate deterioration, including pollution, displacement of people due to famines and wars and sea pollution, is having a significant impact on our health. According to the WHO, it is known that at least 15 million or 16 million people around the world die as a result of climate deterioration each year. This problem has the capacity to roll back 50 years of advances in public health. If we do not act to protect our climate, we could see the return of measles and plagues, etc. We need to get to grips with it.

I would like to focus on the simple idea of electric vehicles. The national development plan has set a target of 500,000 electric vehicles by 2030. We have just over 2,000 such vehicles at the moment. There are 1.9 million private cars on our roads. There are no specific proposals for how the 2030 target is to be achieved. There is uncertainty with regard to who is going to build and own the public charging infrastructure. The regulator has recommended that ESB Networks should no longer have this responsibility. The target I have mentioned has financial implications for consumers. How will they be assisted to make the switch?

The national development plan does not include any specific plans for establishing particular energy sources to replace fossil fuels. We have virtually been completely reliant on onshore wind for our renewable energy. It is vital that we establish a wide portfolio of renewable energy sources. The plan mentions some other sources, but it does not set out any specific details of how they will be established. Biogas, which is a sustainable form of gas produced from farm waste, is mentioned in the plan but no details are provided with regard to it.We need a detailed plan for how to increase our usage of environmentally friendly biogas. Sinn Féin has published a policy paper on this issue which I invite the Minister of State to flick through. I welcome reports that Bord na Móna will not proceed with the plan to build a €60 million biomass plant in the United States to develop wood chip to be burnt in Irish electricity power plants. To import biomass rather than growing it here makes no sense from an environmental or local jobs perspective. Although biomass by itself is not the solution to all of our energy needs, it can form part of a wide portfolio of energy sources.

The national development plan announced that the Government intends to fund energy research into solar energy or biogas. Those are well-established sources of power worldwide and we do not need to conduct research into them but, rather, to use them. It is disappointing that the hundreds of millions of euro we face in potential fines will stymie the development of the infrastructure to combat climate change and limit our resources.

I wish to stand up for Dublin. Most Senators have stood up for their own areas and I wish to stand up for the capital.