Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

When we talk about these amendments and the things we can add in, we forget about all the things that are already in the Bill. As the Minister of State noted, and the Minister referred to this on Friday as well, the actions of the Government and the Minister must be consistent with the UNFCCC and Articles 2 and 4.1 of the Paris Agreement. Let us not forget the number of commitments in those agreements, which include a number of the matters mentioned in some of these amendments.

The Bill is peppered with references to public participation, although it may not mention the Aarhus Convention. The Joint Committee on Climate Action discussed at length whether it was legally appropriate to include a specific reference to the Aarhus Convention in the Bill. We must not forget that Ireland has signed up to that convention and it has been ratified so we have that obligation in any event. I pushed for recommendation 57 of the committee's pre-legislative scrutiny report, which provided that the Minister would determine whether the entire Bill had been checked for compliance with the Aarhus Convention. It is not enough to put that in one place; the entire Bill has to be consistent with and comply with the convention. The Minister of State may let us know if that is the case. Including references to various measures that we have already signed up to is not always the best legal practice. We went into government to have the strongest possible legislation, not legislation that mentions so many things that are all put into the pot as if they were equal.

Fundamentally, people came before the committee to talk about just transition and I noted in my questioning that not one of those people mentioned intergenerational justice. We could be putting more and more things into this Bill that do not actually mention that. Yes, we have to care about the jobs of the people currently living in our country and move them into other jobs that will also pay them but let us not put that ahead of future generations. We are in a desperate condition globally as regards climate. The Bill refers to a just transition. Section 6 refers to:

the requirement for a just transition to a climate neutral economy which endeavours, in so far as is practicable, to— (i) maximise employment opportunities, and

(ii) support persons and communities that may be negatively affected by the transition;

All of this is in the Bill. These provisions may not be exactly as everyone wants them to be but let us not forget that they are there. Senator Boylan was not here all day on Friday when a number of her amendments were taken but there were many amendments with different definitions of just transition. While we cannot put everything into the Bill, that does not mean we are not taking these actions.

I take the point about the sustainable development goals, which we discussed at length at the committee. I would love to see sustainable development goals in all legislation, not just climate legislation, because they impact on everything. In some ways it is more important to have sustainable development goals in legislation that is not directly related to climate, in order that it be taken into consideration. The SDGs are referenced in the UNFCCC. I get a little frustrated with people who want to put more and more into the Bill when we have been at this for a year. We had months of pre-legislative scrutiny and we all did our best to get as much in as possible but, legally speaking, throwing everything into the pot does not bring us the ultimate outcome we want, which is to move to a 51% reduction by 2030 and to enhance the council giving the scientific advice on all these matters to the Government. Every party, including Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin, the Green Party and the Labour Party, said it wanted just transition, because nobody wants his or her constituents to go without when it comes to a transition. I have no fear that this Bill will not do what we need it to do but we need to move on and get it done.