Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. I welcome this debate and, in particular, the important move on behalf of the State to move towards carbon budgets. While it is important that the budgets are agreed by the Houses for the next two years, I do see competition coming down the line from various Departments that may seek to offset their carbon emissions by using carbon budgets. I do not want that to happen. Offsetting is greenwashing. Collective and sustained action is what is needed. It would be preferable for the House to come back to discuss those sectoral carbon budgets each year.

I came from a meeting of the housing committee today at which we were specifically considering this issue. I am not sure it has sunk in within that industry how much we need to change in order to meet climate targets, even those in housing. There is a real challenge in meeting our housing targets and the large number of revised targets we should have if we are to meet the housing needs of those fleeing war in Europe. However, planning permissions are still being granted that involve the demolition of perfectly good buildings with materials that could be reused and repurposed to build carbon- and energy-intensive replacements. We need to be considering that. There is real competition in terms of delivering on both housing need and retrofitting. I want to see us achieve both those objectives, but I want that to be done in a way that ensures the housing need of people is put first.

The IPCC report published yesterday is a stark reminder - as it is every year, but particularly so at the moment - that the clear message we are facing is that we cannot delay climate action. The Labour Party does not agree with delaying the carbon tax because it is ring-fenced money to provide programmes such as retrofitting and it is an important tool in fighting climate change. All Members today received wide-ranging and comprehensive correspondence from Friends of the Earth. I wish to focus on recommendation No. 6, which is in the context of the cost-of-living crisis. It is a real shame that carbon tax has got caught up in this crisis because it is a very small proportion of the cost-of-living crisis people are facing. Friends of the Earth states that the Government should set up a just transition commission on a non-statutory basis now to secure a fair and just transition. It states that means a particular focus on retrofitting of social housing and targeting subsidies at those who are most at risk of energy poverty. I know the Department has an Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, study proposing offsetting the carbon tax increases to actually do that. That is why it is unfair that the focus has been on the carbon tax in a very blunt way in the political debate.

We cannot allow the action that is needed for climate change to be open to the populist approach we saw in the context of Covid. We cannot allow climate change deniers to use the crisis we have in energy and gas as an opportunity to spread disinformation about what taking climate action means and the consequences of that. Climate action will be uncomfortable for many but it also has the opportunity to provide new jobs and opportunities for people and, if done correctly, to distribute money raised from carbon tax back to those who need it most. We need to take the learnings from the digital revolution of the past ten years and apply them to climate action. Change is constant but our planet depends on climate action. It cannot become a cause for disharmony, fear and disinformation.