Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am another member of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action who listened intently to all of the discussion around carbon budgets and the climate Act. The Opposition played a very constructive role in improving that Act. One example is the just transition, which was not mentioned once in the original version. While the legislation did not go as far as we wanted, it is certainly an improvement on what was presented and that is what constructive Opposition is all about.

During the conversation on carbon budgets, I listened to all of the experts who presented at the committee. They were stark and brutally honest. The Climate Change Advisory Council told us that, in its view, this was the most ambitious strategy that could be delivered. Independent academics told us the following day that the proposal was not good enough. The tragedy is that they are both right.Even with these ambitious targets that are on the table today, we are taking from the carbon budgets of the global south. That is the truth. However, we also have a responsibility to ensure the communities in which we live are not hurt. I do not believe this Government can deliver on the targets that are in the carbon budgets and do so in a fair, equitable and just manner. There is a big body of work for the Opposition to make sure the situation to which I refer does not happen. We are happy to work with the Government to ensure it does not happen.

I am not optimistic that we will meet our carbon budgets, however. Industry emissions were up 15% last year. I refer to the scale of what needs to be done in order to deliver on those targets. We are always being told we have an enormous opportunity in renewable energy, yet all those who want to get involved in renewable energy, whether from community energy schemes or multinational corporations, are saying that Ireland is seen as a cold house for investment. Why would a firm do business in Ireland when it can go somewhere else and get the job done more quickly? They are telling us the cost of renewables is too high and our planning process is underfunded. I make the point, for the benefit of Fine Gael, that they are not saying we should try to make it more difficult for people to object; what they are saying is that we need a properly funded An Bord Pleanála, as well as dedicated courts to make decisions in a swift and timely manner. For the benefit of those who are calling for environmental NGOs to have their funding cut, those who want to get involved in renewable energy were all saying we need those environmental NGOs to be adequately resourced. We also need the National Parks and Wildlife Service to be adequately resourced so that planning decisions can be sped up. There is no statutory timeframes for decisions taken when it comes to planning. We are one of only two EU countries that do not have a green hydrogen strategy. I know it too is coming.

It seems like the Department is working in silos. The epitome of this is what happened with the climate action delivery board that rests within the Department of An Taoiseach. The Climate Change Advisory Council criticised that delivery board where the buck stops with the Taoiseach. It stated that the climate action delivery board was not meeting during Covid. Rather than taking on board that criticism and rather than the Taoiseach saying he hears the CCAC, there will be no working in silos and the delivery board will fulfil its obligations and address the issues of how we deliver on our carbon budgets and emissions reductions, instead the climate action delivery board revised the terms and conditions under which it does business and renewed the obligation to submit reports to Cabinet.

Sinn Féin supports these carbon budgets. I will admit they do not go far enough, but I do not think they are deliverable because what is lacking is the joined-up approach that is fundamental to ensuring we deliver on the scale that is required. I hope I am wrong when I say that I do not believe it will be delivered in a fair and equitable manner. I do not think just transition is at the heart of climate action in this country but I am hoping to be proved wrong.