Abandoning Just Transition for a weak Climate Bill is a Faustian pact that betrays the climate movement and workers,” says Bríd Smith TD
People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith has attacked the Green Party for abandoning the idea of a Just Transition in both Budget 2021 and the new Climate Bill. Speaking after the first session of the Oireachtas Climate Action Committee, which examined the new Climate Action Bill, the TD said she was underwhelmed by the Bill’s provisions and added that the bill, “Hasn’t a hope in hell of cutting Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions on the scale or at the pace needed.”
She continued: “It is incredible that activists were sold the idea of the Greens entering this conservative coalition on the basis that they would win concrete gains in legislation and Just Transition measures.
“It is clear from the budget that basic Just Transition principals are being abandoned while Minister Ryan’s set piece bill doesn’t even mention the ideas of a Just Transition.”
The TD again attacked carbon tax rises saying that, despite the spin, it will target the least well off with no attempt to understand the impact of energy poverty or the fact that people simply don’t have alternatives now in transport or home heating.
She said: “This Bill was offered as the justification for other measures that Green Party TDs took in supporting the Government on a range of issues. This Bill could have been done by a Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael minister- it doesn’t challenge the systemic sources of greenhouse gasses or the role of fossil fuel corporations. It is full of get out clauses, loose language and says nothing about Liquified Natural Gas Terminals.
“Instead, it sets the stage for accountancy trickery and hope for future technology to save us. If this is the reason the Green Party entered Government, they could have stayed at home for the same impact.”
