Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The phrase "just transition" is used quite a lot. I believe in just transition. I await the just transition territorial plan, which we are due to submit to the EU, with great interest. The Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action has requested to see this plan but has not yet seen it. We all want to see just transition but we must be clear that it relates to supports for those who are impacted when the necessary changes are made. It is not about delaying changes. It is about ensuring we address and support those impacted by them. It is important because there are really specific policy documents that relate to just transition that need to be addressed. In their absence, we are using it in this way. It is being used in lots of ways. It would be very useful if we had a debate on the actual just transition strategies at European and Irish level.

This is about subsidisation of something, which is unsustainable and creates and drives carbon emissions. If there is a desire to support an industry, the way we support it cannot be through subsidising the most damaging aspect of what it does, which is the use of diesel. If it was around subsidising companies which wish to change their vehicles, so be it but we certainly cannot subsidise the core cause of catastrophic climate change. We cannot negotiate in respect of the reduction of emissions. That has to be the bottom line.