Climate Action Bill amendments fail at committee stage

Rural TDs called on the Government to protect peat farmers, while Sinn Féin and Social Democrats sought details on protecting communities and employment

Independent TD Denis Naughten said the bill gives 'a blank cheque' to the minister of the day. File picture: Gareth Chaney

A number of amendments that "ensure accountability" and a "just transition" to the Climate Action Bill have failed at committee stage.

Amendments proposed by some rural opposition TDs called on the Government to protect peat farmers, while Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats moved amendments calling on Environment Minister Eamon Ryan to set out in detail how they would protect communities and employment.

Other amendments proposed removing language like “endeavours, in so far as is practicable, to” in order to ensure stronger commitment to policies from the Government.

Mr Ryan said a just transition to a carbon-neutral economy "is defined, in my mind" in the bill, adding there is commitment to support communities that may be negatively affected by a reduction in emissions.

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan said a just transition to a carbon-neutral economy 'is defined, in my mind' in the bill. File picture: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie

Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore disagreed: "The minister says that the principles of just transition are contained in the bill, they're absolutely not, there is no definition for it, there's no guidance as to what it means and this is a golden opportunity to incorporate it fully into the bill, and to ensure that we meet our targets in a fair manner.

"I don't agree with the minister that it's incorporated, just referencing it once is not sufficient.

"The thing about just transition is that you have to be proactive with it, it cannot come after you have your actions in place and you have your targets in place. It needs to be a targeted, focused approach."

Impact on farming community

Ms Whitmore also called for analysis to be carried out on how meeting targets would impact farming communities and workers in Bord na Móna. "I really do think that this bill will fall foul of the fact that you're not incorporating and taking into account all communities in transition to a carbon-neutral economy," she said.

On amendments that called on the Houses of Oireachtas to have a greater role in approving climate budgets and policy, Mr Ryan said there was a role for the advice council, the minister and the Oireachtas, and did not support the amendment.

Independent TD Denis Naughten, a former environment minister, said the bill gives "a blank cheque" to the minister of the day.

"The difficulty is in five to 10 years' time, you may not be minister and the minister of the day may have a different perspective, we might have a climate denier at that stage and they can implement whatever they so wish and it automatically becomes law, that's wrong," he said.

The bill will continue to report stage where TDs say they will resubmit some of the amendments for consideration.