Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and the visitors in the Gallery. I wish to give the sincerest welcome to this Bill and I congratulate Deputy Pringle and his assistant, Jodie Neary, who did so much to bring this Bill through. It was an example of an Independent politician taking a global perspective, rather than a local perspective. I commend all parties, including the Government, on their support for and recognition of the value of this Bill.

I am positive about some of the language I hear from the new Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, and I am happy that he has spoken of the need to address climate change with a revolution in how we live, looking towards circular economics and bioeconomics, with different economics and different assessments of costs. That is the kind of leadership we need.

Divestment does not mean a loss of income but massive savings for the planet and the environment, as well as in the practical costs of climate change. Having a model of investment based on short-term metrics, such as quarterly reports, has blinded us to the long-term costs but we are freeing ourselves from that perspective with this measure. At a European level, the 2020 targets were meant to incorporate a vision for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth but Europe has not yet fulfilled that vision. As we set out our plan for a post-2020 world, this is an opportunity for Ireland to give leadership on the kinds of investment we collectively make.

I commend civil society activists and the young people who have driven much of this campaign. My colleague has spoken about the students in Trinity College and I was very proud to work with staff and students in NUI Galway last year, who succeeded in getting the university to divest from fossil fuels. I particularly wish to commend Colm Duffy on his work in this area. I was proud to launch NUI Galway's sustainability strategy following that.

As we saw in our Citizens' Assembly, society is ahead of politics in this area, with 97% of the assembly recommending that climate change be at the centre of policy making while 100% believe the State needs to take a leadership role to address climate change through mitigation measures. Many say they would be willing to pay higher taxes for this goal but an opportunity was missed in this regard in the Finance Bill.

Divestment is a great opportunity and this is a moment for leadership. I hope we can set an example around the world and it is important that we remember Ireland operates in a global context. Next month the Conference of the Parties event, COP24, will take place in Poland. I was at the last Conference of the Parties in Pozna which took place at a time when, though we were deeply concerned about the destruction of the environment, Europe was holding onto coal and other fossil fuels and their related industries. We hope that, since Paris, there has been a shift and a willingness to make the difficult decisions and grapple with the difficult issues.

This Government has shown some leadership with the ban on fracking, and it is showing some leadership today with its willingness to divest from fossil fuels but we need joined-up thinking which goes a little further. We need to look at the LNG terminal which is due to be built in Shannon because we cannot facilitate the processes which we recognise as damaging. We need to look at why we are building a terminal in Shannon which could import fracked gas. I urge the Minister to engage on this issue with his colleagues across Government.

I strongly commend this Bill to the House. It is an exciting step forward but we have further to go. I look forward to the subsequent Stages of the debate.