Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have seen this narrative a couple of times now. The Opposition is not fighting tooth and nail among ourselves about the definitions. A number of people have come up with proposals to offer. To return to "climate justice" as an example, I am glad the bad language has been removed but I still want to see a good definition inserted. In some cases, these proposals directly reference the language used in the UNFCCC and a definition suggested by environmental NGOs. This was co-signed by many of us. We have been trying to work with the Government. We recognise that the Minister is in government with others and he may not be able to give us everything we want or he himself may want but we have been trying to put forward proposals. It would be dangerous to start saying the existence of multiple suggestions means agreement cannot be reached. I am quite confident all of us in the Opposition could walk out of here and into the lobby and within ten minutes agree on a definition of "climate justice" and "just transition" from among those suggested. Most of us have grounded our suggestions in the definition provided by the International Labour Organization, ILO, which introduced and put forward the concept. Others have relied on the Scottish principles. I imagine most of us would accept either. We have come with two different ideas to try to give space to the Government. It would set a poor trend if being reasonable and giving the Government options was to be framed as division, confusion or some kind of difficulty. I am very confident we could bring forward joint amendments defining "just transition" and "climate justice", and perhaps we may do so on Report Stage.

It is clear we are capable of doing so but what we were trying to do was to give space to the Government to indicate to us what it is willing to consider. Is the Minister willing to look at principles? Does he want to start from the ILO suggestion? Where is he coming from with regard to setting the tone in the legislation as to how Ireland is to approach a just transition? It would be regrettable if this Bill were to leave the Houses while we still did not have a clear direction from Government.It is a little different because there is not the same language on just transition in some of the international agreements and it does need strengthening. It would be good if the Government were to look at this issue between now and Report Stage and tell us if it can work with one of these versions. It sends an important signal because this is one of those concepts that can be very loosely invoked. I liked some of the things in Sinn Féin's definition. Senator Boylan worked extremely hard on the areas of just transition and climate justice on the joint committee. I also acknowledge that Senator Bacik has put forward a very strong amendment on just transition. Neither of those people's commitment to this issue can be doubted. We should be very clear on that. I hope the Minister will look at those definitions and come back to us between now and Report Stage to let us know if there is a definition we can work with. We need to do more.

We talked about the democratic principles. I will be frank: I have had concerns about this Government and the shrinking space for certain parts of how our democracy functions. I am aware that there are circumstances around that but I note it as a concern. I also note that climate justice is not simply about those who are impacted by the changes or bringing those who may be reluctant with us. There are also people involved in just transition who have been ahead of us and have been coming up with new ideas for years, such as environmentalists who now find themselves pushed to the margins of a certain pragmatic interpretation of climate change. There are people who want access to justice so they can talk about how the climate transition is done, how we consider biodiversity issues, how social and environmental sustainability and biodiversity issues are properly reflected and not skipped over when we make our choices about the kinds of climate actions we take. They are part of just transition too and many of them are members of the Just Transition Greens. It is important to mention that. It is not that we need to bring these people with us because some of them have been the strongest advocates on just transition. They are ahead of us and we need to catch up.