The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill has been up for debate in the Dáil in recent days.
The bill has generated tense debate, and no shortage of criticism, particularly from independent TDs.
One independent, Carol Nolan, argued that the bill will “lead to devastating outcomes across several important economic sectors”.
“During the course of [the debate] I made it explicitly clear that this proposed bill critically undermines the agriculture sector by loading emissions targets and expectations on to it that will be almost impossible to meet.
“Essentially this legislation is a ‘just transition’ strategy for the entire country,” she claimed.
She went on: “I urged my Dáil colleagues that if they wanted to see what this looks like, take a good hard look at the midland counties and talk to peat contractors; Bord na Móna worker; and many who have lost their jobs and still have mortgages and bills to pay.”
The Laois-Offaly TD said that these group’s “are paying the price for idealism that borders on nonsense”.
“Our experience of a just transition is one where entire communities have been left behind and where employment losses are masked by empty rhetoric of biodiversity strategies that care little for how ordinary people want to live their lives.
Nolan also raised the issue of the importation of lignite briquettes, something she argued people “deserve answers” for.
“How is that reducing our carbon footprint?… I call on the [government] to answer that question… How will it reduce our carbon footprint when we take into account all the transportation involved?” the deputy asked.
“The people imposing these policies on us need to stand up and explain themselves. At the very least, they should have the respect to do that.
“The people of the midlands, who are being severely punished under a ‘just transition’, need the answers to these questions, because under the current format of the Climate Action Bill it is clear that these situations are set to go from bad to worse over the coming years,” Nolan claimed.