Seanad debates

Wednesday, 14 November 2018

Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill 2016: Second Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Kevin HumphreysKevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I thank Deputy Pringle and his assistant, Ms Jodie Neary, for the work they have done on this Bill and guiding it through the Dáil. It is very important legislation and it has had an effect far and wide. Trócaire gave me a briefing note indicating 150 newspaper articles have been published internationally relating to this, reaching over 200 million people. The change being initiated by this legislation in Ireland is having a far bigger effect internationally, as we can see the interest generated across the globe. A video hailing this has been viewed 12 million times. There is an important element relating to leadership in this legislation and I also praise the student union in Trinity College Dublin, which raised public awareness of this initiative.

The previous Senator mentioned the public and it is far ahead of us with this. People are demanding that we change and saying we need to take climate change seriously. That is why there was such major disappointment when the carbon tax was not addressed in the recent budget. The income from a carbon tax could have retrofitted many homes to bring a more beneficial impact on the environment and energy use. That sum could have made an enormous difference to our carbon footprint. We are laggards in that respect. The expert advisory group on climate change set up by the previous Government as part of our climate change legislation has repeatedly told the Government it is not reaching its targets or advancing policies that would allow us to reach our targets for 2020 and 2030. Unfortunately, we are failing and I take no glee in saying that.

While Ireland may feel the impact of climate change in harder winters, warmer summers and a shortage of drinking water, people in the Third World are losing their lives. There is starvation and drought, which are extremely serious impacts. It is why we must demonstrate leadership, above all else. We must accept responsibility for the acts we carry out. We are increasing our carbon footprint because of our transport policy and that has not been addressed seriously. That neglect is having a major impact in Africa and Asia through climate change. We must take personal responsibility for this and that includes Members of both Houses because there has been a serious lack of action in the Oireachtas.

This legislation is groundbreaking and visionary. We must make consider the detailed legislative changes we need to make regarding how we build and retrofit homes, how we use our transport infrastructure and the lack of investment in public transport compared with the amount spent on roads. All of these have an impact on climate change and affect Third World countries. They are suffering because of the lack of action in First World countries like Ireland. Legislation like this amounts to real leadership. Deputy Pringle guided this Private Members' legislation through the Dáil and one can see the global impact it will have.

I commend Bord na Móna on its decision to accelerate the reduction in turf cutting, particularly in counties Laois and Offaly. However, this decision also has an impact on the sustainability of rural communities. The challenge we have as a nation is how to treat those communities. We must ensure they are sustainable, while also moving away quickly from the burning of turf. The idea that power plants will continue to burn wood and turf until 2030 must be examined. The idea of keeping Moneypoint power station open is ridiculous and we must move quickly to close it. The target we have set is not acceptable because Moneypoint is poisoning our climate. As a nation, we must take responsibility for what is happening because of Moneypoint. We must put the infrastructure and the finances in place to ensure the plant can close very quickly.

With good legislation like this we should give deserved thanks to the Deputies who guided it through. There are clear messages that we must do more. The climate change legislation put in place by the previous Government clearly set out a programme for that. It also set out an independent advisory group that would tell Departments when they were not reaching targets. The group, in all of its reports, has said loudly and clearly that we are failing to reach our targets. That is not acceptable to Irish people. In many ways we may make excuses and say that people do not understand how this will affect economic growth and jobs, for example, but the public is saying loudly and clearly that we must take those decisions. There will be unintended consequences and it will be difficult but the public, particularly after the recent budget, has said it wants to see change. People want to see the carrot and stick used in equal measure. We must change how we are treating our climate but we are failing to take on our responsibilities to the Third World because of our inaction.

I commend this important Bill but we must do more. I commend Deputy Pringle on his work, as well as the students from Trinity College Dublin who raised this as an issue in the first instance. I also commend Trócaire on running with the topic. I am not doing enough and this House is not doing enough. The Government is not doing enough. We are failing the minimum standards and we must do better.

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