Leader of the Social Democrats, Holly Cairns has said that the party “wants to see” the budget surplus used to create a €6 billion climate transformation fund.
At the Social Democrats Conference today (Saturday, February 17), the Cork South-West TD said that governments think in “five-year election cycles” when it comes to climate action.
“We only need to look at the recent flooding in Midleton to get a glimpse of what the future holds,” Deputy Cairns said.
She said that Ireland does have the resources to “protect and rejuvenate” biodiversity; for “pristine waters”; and to become a net exporter of energy by the end of the decade.
“Ireland could be held up as the example for the future of agriculture,” she said.
In the programme for government and the Climate Act 2021, Ireland committed to halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reaching net zero by 2050 at the latest.
Deputy Cairns said that Ireland is missing targets and “cannot afford to continue on this path of half measures”.
“We need climate action that is ambitious enough to meet the enormous scale of the task,” she added.
Social Democrats
In her first party conference speech as leader, Deputy Cairns also said that the Social Democrats will deliver 50,000 homes per year if in government.
She said that many young people are emigrating to the UK, Australia, America and Canada.
“Government after government after government have failed to provide even the very basics – like a roof over people’s head,” Deputy Cairns said.
She added that the party will deliver 10,000 affordable homes and 12,000 social homes per year.
She said that it will “immediately introduce: A three year rent freeze; a ban on no-fault evictions; a tax on vacant homes “with real teeth”, and an end to the bulk buying of homes by investment funds.