Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Green Party Senators on bringing forward this Bill. They are members of the smaller party in government and I have sympathy for what happens smaller parties in government and the hassle and blame they get for things they do not necessarily cause. The Green Party Ministers and Senators have been performing exceptionally well during the past year and, particularly when focused on green issues. I congratulate them on that as they mark their one year in government, as they get blowback from others and as this is the type of legislation a Green Party should be bringing forward.

I welcome this Bill and the Labour Party fully supports it. When the Green Party first launched this Bill I was surprised to learn solar panelling in schools was not covered by planning exemptions. I checked the number of schools and educational institutions we have. They number 8,500 and their square footage would be massive. We should not only allow schools to generate their own electricity. Under the Microgeneration Support Scheme Bill they could sell it back to the grid when they are not using that electrical capacity. We should be funding and taking more prominent steps to allow our network of State institutions to begin to tackle our carbon emissions and climate change.I know from working in a school, and from school buildings, that many principals would say they are not as focused on education as they should be and that they are mainly focused on school buildings. Investment in infrastructure and schools is important in terms of bringing them up to standard and making them more energy efficient. As part of the roll-out and implementation of this, I would like to see the Department of Education taking a more active role in improving the energy efficiency of school buildings rather than just allowing schools to put up solar panels without planning permission. It is important that the Department equips principals with knowledge and funding and that it assists them centrally, as it does with the school building programmes. Many schools in this country are very old, damp and leaky. One has to leave the windows open with the heat on in the winter because the windows are covered in condensation. That is something in our school stock that we need to be able to tackle.

Senator Dooley's point on solar power is important. We need to focus beyond schools. Over the next ten years, we plan to build at least 34,000 new houses. We must ensure the standards used in building those houses prepares them to be climate ready. Local authorities have a big role in doing this, particularly when building housing. When I was on Dublin City Council and the new social housing was being built off Cork Street, I asked about using green roofs to protect in the context of flood protection. Flood protection in Dublin city is one of the bigger issues we face because many people have paved over the natural soakage in the city. We were told it was too expensive, the technology was not developed and it was too heavy in terms of the construction of the building. Those are the things in our climate strategy that we need to consider doing in order that local authorities and Government institutions future-proofing our buildings.

I commend the Green Party Senators on putting down this Bill. They have been very active Senators in the area of climate change and environmental issues. The Labour Party fully supports this Bill.