Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 January 2015
5. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the input he had into the climate action and low carbon energy Bill; if he or his Department will be represented on the expert advisory council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3960/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraThere was quite an extensive debate about the climate action and low carbon energy Bill in the House this week. The response to that Bill from environmental organisations has been very critical, for two primary reasons. One is that it fails to bring in binding targets and the other relates to concerns about the independence of the advisory council that would advise the Government on developing plans in the area of mitigation, CO2 reductions, adaptation and so on. I just want the Minister's response to this. I believe the Labour Party was pushing for the independence of the advisory committee, but there is great concern that the structure of that committee will not be independent in the way that it should be and that, taken with the lack of binding targets-----
The question was to ask me my input to this Bill. It is under the remit of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and not mine, but my Department participates fully in the whole of Government approach to addressing the challenges of climate change and the transition to a low carbon energy system and, in this regard, had an input to the climate action and low carbon energy Bill.
The Bill is to provide for the approval of plans by the Government in relation to climate change for the purpose of pursuing the transition to a low carbon, climate resilient and environmentally sustainable economy by the year 2050. The Bill represents a commitment to existing or future obligations of the State under the law of the European Union and any relevant international agreement. It provides for the making, by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, and submission to the Government for approval, of a national low carbon transition and mitigation plan, and a national climate change adaptation framework. My Department is fully engaged with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, and all other relevant Departments and agencies, in progressing this work.
As the Deputy points out, the Bill also provides for the establishment of a national expert advisory council on climate change, which will consist of a chairperson and between eight and ten ordinary members, four of whom shall be ex officio members comprising the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Teagasc, and the Economic and Social Research Institute. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, as the Deputy is aware, is an agency under the remit of my Department. The members of the council will be appointed by the Government, on the nomination of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. In nominating and appointing the chairperson and ordinary members, other than the ex officio members, regard will be had to the range of qualifications, expertise and experience necessary for the proper and effective performance of the functions of the expert advisory council. The functions of the council will be to advise and make recommendations to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in relation to the national mitigation plan, the national adaptation framework and sectoral adaptation plans.
The fact that it is under one Department is almost by the by. In this area, more than most, we need joined-up thinking between a number of Departments. Underlying some of the concerns about the failure of the Bill to establish binding targets and concerns about the lack of independence of the advisory body is a belief that there may be a tension between certain interests, possibly within agriculture or industry, and others, who see a significant urgency in meeting CO2 targets and coming up with strategies that can help achieve that. That is what was lacking. The worry is that the lack of independence of this body and the lack of targets indicate a lack of seriousness about meeting these targets, or a lack of detailed sectoral plans, projects, focus and investment in reducing CO2 emissions in a serious way.
As the Deputy is aware, we have binding 2020 targets, which require us to act. My Department is critically involved with those targets. I have given information to the House before - in fact, earlier in my contribution this morning - on this. They are very exacting targets and they require an enormous amount of work. That work is continuing. It is not a question of there not being targets. There are targets.
The Deputy must appreciate that I do not have seisin of this particular piece of legislation; my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, does. I would not assume, as the Deputy appears to, that the national expert advisory council would lack independence. I have given an indication of the intended make-up of the body. I do not see any basis for the Deputy to assume in advance that there would be any difficulty with that council, but in the course of the debate on the legislation, the Deputy will be able to bring forward any concerns he has about that council, because I agree that it should be a fully effective body, which should assist the Minister and the Oireachtas in this critically important area.
There is concern that the permanent members of this advisory body are all from State agencies - there are no permanent positions for particular environmental interests - but, to cut a long story short, and it has been a theme in many of the questions I have put to the Minister recently, there is also concern that there has been a sort of single focus in terms of producing renewable energy. The focus has been on big, industrialised wind projects. There is another big interest - an important one, do not get me wrong - in the area of agriculture, dairy farming and so on. There is concern that these things dominate the perspective when it comes to dealing with issues, rather than exploring other possibilities, hearing other voices and having other projects and more diversity in developing renewable energy resources and meet CO2 reduction targets. The fear is that the Bill reflects that and that there must be a much greater diversification and focus on alternative energy resources and methods of reducing CO2 emissions.
Work can be done on the advisory council in the course of the passage of this legislation. I do not think the Deputy intended to do so, but I would not dismiss representatives of State agencies, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Teagasc and the ESRI. These bodies are all involved in energy policy. They have really excellent people who are doing huge work for the State in terms of bringing forward the kind of policies, the Deputy may be surprised to hear, that he is talking about himself. They are very strong agencies and should be on that advisory council. There will be room for other voices, as there should be. I urge the Deputy to ensure, in the course of the passage of the legislation, that he raises the kind of issues that he has raised here, and that he continues to raise them in the context of the broader energy policy area, as I have invited him again in respect of the White Paper.
We want to have all the inputs. That is why I have not been prepared to exclude anything from our debate on energy policy. That issue comes up again later on in relation to some of the energy sources.
