Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I agree very much with Senator Higgins that it is in the detail that a just transition must be delivered with regard to jobs. I still say that these must be better jobs. However, it is not just about jobs. It is also about communities and whole sectors. It is about planning and looking to see where we will have difficulties so that we can start preparing in advance. It is also about social dialogue and addressing regional imbalances. It is about preparing our country for the future and changing the economy as well as protecting our environment. We all agree on this. It is not a matter of one political party or perspective against others. We have a job to do and we must deliver on it. The appropriate place to do so is in the climate action plan and the strategies. They are the centre of what the Government must do to deliver and of what we are doing.

I had a meeting yesterday with our just transition commissioner, Kieran Mulvey, who gave me an update on what is happening in the midlands. Progress has been slow because we are disbursing public money. If we were to disburse it without care, we would be similarly lambasted. There is now €108 million in funding for the restoration of bogs. Some 200 jobs, between part-time and full-time, are already in place. This number will grow. More than 60 community projects have been funded with total funding to the tune of €27 million. Getting state aid approval has been slow, as has getting through all of the administrative procedures that must be completed, but a start has been made. There is a great diversity of new community initiatives being developed. The retrofitting of houses has been somewhat delayed by Covid but retrofitting has begun on some 850 local authority houses occupied by those in fuel poverty. We are actually doing it in reality and learning lessons that we will be able to apply as we look for just transition solutions in other areas. It is in the doing that this matters.

I was very happy to accept the amendment of my Green Party colleagues on Committee Stage because it very much reflected the debate in the Dáil on Report Stage, during which the emphasis was on a similar amendment to the Long Title of the Bill. I was glad to be able to accept that. The key point relates to the climate action plan and the strategy. The proposed new section 4(8)(k) of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 correctly focuses on employment opportunities and support for individuals and communities that may be negatively affected. This is the appropriate steer and guide. We will use that to deliver a just transition. I cannot accept the amendments. While I very much understand the arguments being made, I believe we have the right structure within the Bill.