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Climate Change Adaptation Plans

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 May 2018

Thursday, 17 May 2018

Ceisteanna (5)

Eamon Ryan

Ceist:

5. Deputy Eamon Ryan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the role of his Department in drafting the European climate and energy plan for Ireland by the end of 2018. [21979/18]

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Freagraí ó Béal (8 píosaí cainte)

In the late 1950s, this country completely transformed from a closed economic system to an open, international one. Mr. Lemass was in power at the time. Mr. Whitaker, the Secretary General of the Department for which the Minister is now responsible, led that. We are now in a similar moment in history in that we need to change our entire economic model from an unsustainable one to a sustainable one. The climate and energy plan we have to present to the European Union under the Paris climate agreement is surely the chance to do what Mr. Whitaker did in the report he wrote in the 1950s. This is the opportunity to think that big and differently and change everything. What are the plans of the Government? What is the role of the Minister's Department in this new climate and energy plan that we have to present to the European Union by the end of the year?

My Department's role is broadly to deliver well-managed and well-targeted public spending. When it comes to climate change, this means ensuring we respond in the best way to climate transition in our country.

EU countries have agreed on a 2030 framework for climate and energy, including new EU-wide targets and policy objectives for the period 2021 to 2030. These targets will be underpinned by a new regulation on the governance of the energy union. This regulation will provide for the creation of integrated national energy and climate plans by each member state. The regulation is the subject of an ongoing trilogue process between the Commission, Council and Parliament which is expected to conclude later this year. Until this point, the targets, policy objectives and timelines are subject to revision.

The development of Ireland's national energy and climate plan is, in the first instance, a responsibility of the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment. My Department is working closely with the Department of that Minister, Deputy Naughten, through the structures that have been established to co-ordinate Government activity on climate change. There is a high-level steering committee on climate action, chaired by the Minister, Deputy Naughten, and a technical research and modelling group that provides expert advice and support. My Department is represented on both.

Preparation of the plan is at an early stage but its development will be facilitated by the work under way to complete the national mitigation plan and the recently published national development plan. The latter, in particular, represents a step change in Government commitment to climate change, with €21.8 billion in funding directed to addressing the transition to a low-carbon society. This capital investment will lead to a significant reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions over the period to 2030.

The current plans will not do it. They are not ambitious enough and we have not grasped the opportunity that exists. The plans do not reflect the ability and willingness of the Irish to make the leap to a cleaner, sustainable economy. At a meeting of the Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport yesterday, Transport Infrastructure Ireland made a presentation. It is still doing the exact same thing it was doing, namely, trying to tackle Dublin's congestion problems by building a wider ring of motorways around the city.

In the area of forestry, we should be thinking really big. We should be thinking about a massive, native rainforest that would be a store for carbon and part of the Wild Atlantic Way. It would create 30,000 jobs. The Minister should be thinking about an area of 20,000 ha.

On our sea area, we should be going back to Europe saying we will listen to E. O. Wilson, the great biologist, and set aside half our waters for conservation, protection and research on what is happening in the North Atlantic as everything changes. That would be accepted in Europe as reflecting the scale of ambition, leadership and vision required.

It is time to shift our thinking to see this as a bold project where we can lead rather than one in which we are trying to resist change, which is what I sense happening.

I see this as a major opportunity. I want the Irish people and Government to play a role in responding. The Deputy can always point, very legitimately, to areas in which we could make improvements and operate differently, but alongside that, let us recognise what is contained in Ireland 2040, the national development plan. There is a commitment to retrofitting 45,000 homes each year and delivering energy upgrades to all public buildings and a minimum of one third of commercial buildings. At least half a million electric vehicles are to be introduced by 2030. The plan also refers to transitioning to a low-emission urban public bus fleet, with no diesel buses being purchased from 1 July. From 2030 onwards, fossil fuel cars will not be allowed to be sold in Ireland.

From 2045 no national car test, NCT, certificates will be issued for these cars. I am in the final stages of agreeing with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, a new climate action fund to be established that will have an allocation of €500,000. Maybe the particular matters referred to by the Deputy could be funded through this plan. That is in addition to the very comprehensive public transport plan contained in Project Ireland 2040.

If we are to get real, we will heed the comments from the National Transport Authority in yesterday's committee. Its representatives conceded we do not have the resources for that bus network and most of our best engineers are stuck doing outer urban and inter-urban motorways, adding to the congestion problem rather than addressing this major problem that we have to introduce cycling facilities and buses in our cities. Nothing is happening in that regard and the budget fell 40% in the past year. That is the reality. Similarly, if we are serious about electric vehicles, let us start on our car park outside and put in 20 or 50 charging points. Let us do the same in every supermarket and public car park to show we are for real.

We have all these plans but the reality is our emissions are rising in every sector at speed. The Taoiseach recognised that we are climate laggards but it is not the people who are climate laggards; it is our administrative system. We need to change the political and administrative system here to live up to the promise that exists for the Irish people in this transition.

The National Transport Authority indicated to me that with the further development of the bus network, for example, there is funding available.

It does not have the staff for it.

I am not aware of what it said about cycling infrastructure but I take the Deputy's comments in good faith. I want to see our cycling infrastructure improve beyond where it is. I look at plans under way for the new greenway linking the north inner city, for example, to Castleknock and beyond as an example of the kind of investment now happening that the Green Party has sought for so long. If there is an issue with staffing and engineers in particular not being available to do the work, as the Deputy mentioned, I will engage with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport on that. I have made the capital funding available to try to make these projects a reality. I know we will not be able to respond to climate change obligations if we continue to organise transport like we do in Ireland currently. I am working very hard to provide the additional funding to ensure that agenda can be delivered.

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