On the PSO levy being returned, could the levy be used so that people might be able to get a loan to put in solar panels? Equally, could this money be offset by some of the electricity or generation companies so that this levy could go towards a loan to put in solar panels or some other form of green energy?
EirGrid, Electricity and Turf (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee and Remaining Stages
Sections 1 to 6, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 7
Question proposed: "That section 7 stand part of the Bill."
The Bill proposes to send the PSO levy directly into the utility accounts of the people and onto the bill as a credit of the electricity customers so they can use it for whatever they want. It will not be the case that the Government will take the PSO levy money and use it as a loan. There will be a low-cost loan scheme for renewable energy, including solar panels and so on, later this year and that will be available to people who normally cannot get credit. That is in the works.
Why is this money going to be taken out if it is going to be put back into people's account? Is that the way or how is it going to operate?
The PSO levy will come from the State and go onto the electricity bills of customers as a credit and they can use the money for whatever they want.
How will the low-cost energy scheme operate on the ground? Where does someone go and who will provide those low-cost loans? Will this come from the generation or who will do it?
I understand that the loans are backed by the European Investment Bank and by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, which is the State bank. The loans will be provided, presumably, through credit institutions, will be set at a low rate, of approximately 3% I believe, and these loans will be available to people who would not normally be able to get credit.
Would people be able to go to their local credit union and get the loan there?
Yes, and the purpose of the loan is to cover the portion of the retrofit that they cannot afford or get a grant for. If a person has a retrofit job that costs €20,000 and receives a grant of €10,000, the other €10,000 can be borrowed at a low rate.
Question put and agreed to.
Sections 8 to 12, inclusive, agreed to.
SECTION 13
I move amendment No. 1:
In page 11, line 30, after "€650,000,000" to insert the following:
“and such borrowings shall be used in line with principles of and for the purpose of facilitating a just transition”.
Senator Higgins sends her apologies as unfortunately she cannot be here today. The amendment is quite simple. We are increasing the borrowing limits given to Bord na Móna quite significantly. This should be the case as we are in a climate emergency and in a cost-of-living crisis in which the price of energy is a real challenge for people. This amendment is saying that the money that can be borrowed should be used for just transition measures. We have heard many times in recent months that accelerating the development of renewable energy is key to reducing the cost of living. We heard from the Minister that since the cost of oil and gas is so expensive, the cost of renewables has come down, which means they are paying back into the PSO, which sees households getting a rebate on that element of it.
However, we have not seen that acceleration or move towards a just transition in reality, and for ordinary people the crisis is getting worse. For our planet the emergency is deepening every day. In Ireland and throughout the world, energy companies are making huge profits at the moment on the backs of workers and the horrific war in Ukraine. As a separate point, we should be taxing the windfall those companies are receiving and investing those revenues in a just transition for workers and communities. We talk all the time now about how we are experiencing an unprecedented crisis when it comes to energy but the reality is it is not unprecedented; it is expected. The tide is turning on fossil fuels but it needs to turn faster. The Ukraine war has certainly brought it into focus and those who may have defended the use of fossil fuels as bridging fuels can no longer make those arguments. They are not sustainable and do not belong in conversations about the future of energy supply. This amendment places a clear obligation on Bord na Móna to use the money borrowed under this provision for just transition measures. It is the direction we need to be moving towards, and indeed steps like this represent the ambition we need to end both the cost of living and the climate crises.
Those of us who sat in on the pre-legislative scrutiny on the climate Bill at the time were concerned that a just transition did not feature once in any reference in the Bill. Eventually we got a small reference to it included. In regard to just transition and its principles, the amendment we call for is to mirror Scotland where principles are enshrined in its climate Act. The reality is that just transition and climate justice have to be factored into everything we are doing. That is why with the stuff around the data centres, we have to put the facts on the record: 15% of electricity demand in Ireland is from data centres. That figure is 1% in Germany, 6% in the Netherlands which is the closest to us. We are a complete outlier. When we talk about just transition and just transition principles, it makes it much harder for us to meet our climate targets but it is also putting a cost on the State to provide emergency generation to feed that insatiable demand. It is important. It might be 2% of our emissions but we are in the process of trying to bring down our emissions by 4% per year, so 2% is actually quite a large amount of our emissions.
The amendment is from Senator Higgins. I would like to hear the Minister of State's response to it because it is a very simple amendment that says that if we are increasing the borrowing limits given to Bord na Móna, we should at least ensure that just transition is at the heart of borrowing.
It is not proposed to specify in this legislation what the companies can use the increased borrowing limits for. A borrowing limit increase for Bord na Móna will underpin the company's brown-to-green transition. The company has ceased its peat harvesting activities and is accelerating the deployment of renewable energy, particularly in these former peat harvesting regions. Just transition is already a part of Bord na Móna's brown-to-green strategy and is being implemented, as seen with the peatlands climate action project, which forms a crucial part of the Government's and Bord na Móna's just transition plans, securing employment for the 350 employees previously engaged in peat harvesting activities.
Bord na Móna has commenced the enhanced decommissioning, rehabilitation and restoration scheme, the EDRRS programme. The EDRRS will deliver a range of climate action benefits from greenhouse gas mitigation through reduced carbon emissions, carbon storage and accelerated carbon sequestration. The scheme is expected to be completed by the end of 2025 and is expected to protect the storage of millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions, enhance biodiversity and provide employment opportunities as part of a just transition in the midlands.
Bord na Móna is one of five partners in the LIFE IP Peatlands and People project with an overarching aim to be a climate action catalyst, connecting Ireland’s peatlands, policies and people to support the realisation of a carbon neutral, low emission, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable society and economy by 2050, thereby playing a significant role in achieving Ireland’s climate action plan targets, CAP 2019. One of the pillars to the project is the just transition accelerator, which is an accelerator programme for systemic innovation focused on low carbon and circular economies. Furthermore the shareholder letter of expectations, SLOE, for Bord na Móna is being updated to reflect its repositioning as a climate solutions company and the continued importance of a just transition. On this basis I propose to reject the Senator’s amendment.
In the context of what Senator Burke said about access to revenue and funding, when it comes to retrofitting, we must make it simpler and more straightforward for people to fit solar panels to their family homes and businesses. If we do that, it will be a bit like the comment on the issue of public transport in that we will get buy-in from people and people will move towards retrofitting and putting solar panels on the roofs of their houses if we make it easier. There is a fear among people that the grant only covers a certain amount and they cannot get to the required amount. That lacuna needs to be addressed.
Senator Boylan referred to data centres. My information is that data centres are not the source of the issue. They did not use three quarters of the energy that was available to them. Only 25% was used. It is important we have that debate. However, on the point Senator Boylan makes on the profits of the oil companies, and I think she will find a bit of agreement from me on this, President Biden in the US recently called on big oil in America to have less profit and more production. There is a need for the oil companies to be honest in terms of what they supply and the prices they charge. The issue of profits is one thing, but the oil companies have a moral duty to respond to the distribution of profits and the impact of the higher oil prices on people's pockets.
Planning permission has held up many projects on account of various issues. Nearly 40 years ago the Naas dual carriageway was held up because of a snail. A wind farm near where I live was held up because of objections to the planning permission due to concerns that the red grouse would become extinct. Objections to a bridge over the River Moy on the grounds of the freshwater pearl mussel caused a road connecting Ballina and Castlebar to be held up for years. In the case of the wind farm where the red grouse was the problem, that wind farm went ahead. The red grouse nest under the wind turbines. Some sort of investigation, survey or report should be carried out in regard to the displacement of those species to see what has happened. Have they come back because of infrastructure taking place? Have those species that were supposed to be displaced come back? I have asked for this on numerous occasions and have never got a response from any Department. I believe they come back. The freshwater pearl mussel is found in nearly every river now and many projects were held up over it.
As I said, the red grouse has come back under the windmills when it was thought to have been displaced. I am sure there are many other examples. This is the responsibility of the National Parks and Wildlife Service. It is important for an independent report to be carried out on all of those areas.
I call Senator Murphy. We will move on after that because it is almost as if we have gone back to Second Stage.
I will keep my contribution brief.
May I come back in?
Of course.
Senator Boylan made comments about Senator Higgins's amendment. Obviously if the amendment is pushed to a vote, I will be supporting the Government but I agree with some of the sentiments that have been expressed.
It is important that we spend money to facilitate proper just transition, as was promised. The Leas-Chathaoirleach will probably know because of his connection to Roscommon and the midlands that some of the semi-State bodies have removed themselves from promises that have been given. The wilderness park is one example but there other projects to which I could refer.
I am sorry for being a bit parochial but those of us in that area have suffered a lot. We accepted change. I am talking about a rural area and farmers will accept solar panelling and other types of change. However, we cannot have moneys withdrawn or reneging by semi-State bodies. I am thinking about the communities around Lanesborough and Longford. I often draw attention to north-east Roscommon, an area the Leas-Chathaoirleach knows well. That area is not spoken about often. We suffered more than most counties from a loss of employment because of the requirements for the ESB and Bord na Móna to change and move from brown to green. I stress again that we are in favour of change but just transition must be just transition as it was outlined.
In fairness to the Minister of State, he acknowledged that here today and the Minister has done so in the past. We need to ensure that those projects which were promised funding are going to get it. We need to have no hold-ups in the system in that regard. I do not make any apology for fighting for that part of the country on that issue.
I thank Senator Murphy. Senator Boylan wants to say a last word on her own amendment.
It might not be the last word. This is Committee Stage so I can say a few words.
The Senator will say a last few words.
We are rushing enough as it is. The mid-Shannon wilderness park is a perfect example of where we are not seeing a just transition by Bord na Móna. There are concerns in that regard and that was why I was happy to move Senator Higgins's amendment.
Where is the Senator talking about?
The mid-Shannon wilderness park in the midlands. Bord na Móna gave a commitment to the community. The community was asked what it would like to see happen in the area and the people in the area were given a commitment for a wilderness park. It was endorsed by the county manager at the time. Bord na Móna then went ahead and put in a planning application for a wind farm on the site. We know that wind farms on peatland, particularly if the peat can be rehabilitated, is going to cause emissions as opposed to what it could be, that is, a carbon sink. Bord na Móna went back on that.
The planning application was withdrawn because Bord na Móna believed it was going to lose in the courts. We now hear it will put forward another application. The community bought into the idea of a wilderness park. There is fantastic wildlife in the area. As soon as the pumps were turned off, wildlife returned to the area. That includes nesting waders. Bord na Móna is continuing to pump water off that peatland, which uses energy at a time we are all trying to conserve it. It is pumping water off the peatland which has resulted in the awful sight of those nesting birds wandering around wondering where the water source they landed on has gone.
I do not think the commitment in Bord na Móna's blue-green strategy holds water when what it is doing in action is completely contrary to it. It is riding roughshod over what communities in that area want. The community was given a commitment that once the extraction of peat ended, there would be engagement over a just transition process. Senator Higgins has her reasons for submitting the amendment but I support it because I do not see Bord na Móna demonstrating a commitment to a just transition and certainly not with regard to the mid-Shannon wilderness park. Bord na Móna's proposition for that site is in contradiction with the Government's peatland strategy.
Senator Burke raised an interesting idea. When infrastructure is built, there is an assessment of its negative effect on the environment but there is not often an assessment of the benefits. We have seen surprising benefits to the environment from many infrastructure projects. There is a bird sanctuary in Booterstown in my constituency which was the result of a railway built across the bay 150 years ago. That development trapped some water and a bird sanctuary that was not there before has been the result. Fish are breeding at the base of offshore wind turbines because they are protected because people do not fish near the base. That is also the case at the base of the pillars of the bridge that runs between Denmark and Sweden where there are areas of wildlife sanctuary. Projects can have a net effect on the environment whereby they create habitats. It is sometimes hard to predict beforehand but there is a real question in that regard.
There is a tension when one is trying to deliver an environmental project and at the same time is being delayed by environmental legislation. I am well used to that challenge. I would like to see, as the Senator said, more research into the habitats that can be created and an examination of the net effects.
Senator Higgins's amendment is all about the just transition. Such a transition is vital. In order to get buy-in from the public and in order to be able to carry out climate action, a transition must be, and must be seen to be, fair. The midlands in particular have been hit much worse than the rest of the country. The decision was made to target funding towards those areas. I must give some credit to Deputy Cowen for his work in that area. A large quantity of money has at this stage been directed to those areas, as Senators will acknowledge.
Many of the projects are at an early stage and cannot come soon enough. People want to see the benefits of them faster, which is fair. There are projects in the area of ecotourism, including greenways, boardwalks and so on. There are bog rewetting and renewable energy projects. I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, about the mid-Shannon wilderness park to see if he can carry out an assessment from a biodiversity point of view to see what is going on in that regard. I am in contact with the midlands just transition commissioner and I can ask him what is going on in respect of that project. If the Senator has specific questions about it, she can send me a message. I am happy to investigate and see what is happening. Those are my comments on the contributions of Senators.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Sections 13 agreed to.
Section 14 agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported without amendment.
When is it proposed to take Report Stage?
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Bill received for final consideration.
When is it proposed to take Fifth Stage?
Is that agreed? Agreed.
Question, "That the Bill do now pass", put and agreed to.