Aidan Farrelly: Rushed Aviation Law Threatens Climate Duty
Aidan Farrelly challenges the speed and substance of a new aviation and infrastructure bill, warning it risks bypassing local planning bodies and exempting measures from Section 15 of the Climate Act. He argues the legislation centralises power in ministerial orders and could undermine Ireland's climate obligations.
Aidan Farrelly addresses the pace of the bill through the House and questions who is shaping transport policy. He raises concerns that vague language about "connectivity" could force future ministers to choose between connectivity and climate, and objects to exemptions from Section 15 of the Climate Act.
Farrelly highlights the danger of concentrating decisions in ministerial orders and bypassing statutory bodies responsible for land use and infrastructure planning. He points to past failures where local authorities were by-passed and warns this bill risks repeating that pattern.
Citing recent extreme heat and health impacts in Europe, Farrelly stresses that aviation must be considered within climate policy. He notes aviation emissions are not properly recorded in budgets and warns that broad exemptions could undermine the Climate Act and expose future ministers to legal challenge.
Farrelly criticises the speed of the process and the apparent sidelining of the Planning and Land Use (PLS) report recommendations. He says the bill merits fuller scrutiny rather than being rushed to completion with remaining legal and policy questions unresolved.
Summary of the intervention
Aidan Farrelly addresses the pace of the bill through the House and questions who is shaping transport policy. He raises concerns that vague language about "connectivity" could force future ministers to choose between connectivity and climate, and objects to exemptions from Section 15 of the Climate Act.
Centralisation and planning powers
Farrelly highlights the danger of concentrating decisions in ministerial orders and bypassing statutory bodies responsible for land use and infrastructure planning. He points to past failures where local authorities were by-passed and warns this bill risks repeating that pattern.
Climate consequences and legal risk
Citing recent extreme heat and health impacts in Europe, Farrelly stresses that aviation must be considered within climate policy. He notes aviation emissions are not properly recorded in budgets and warns that broad exemptions could undermine the Climate Act and expose future ministers to legal challenge.
Scrutiny and missing recommendations
Farrelly criticises the speed of the process and the apparent sidelining of the Planning and Land Use (PLS) report recommendations. He says the bill merits fuller scrutiny rather than being rushed to completion with remaining legal and policy questions unresolved.
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Transcript
Minister, I know it's been said already this evening, but I'm too struck by the pace in which this legislation has progressed and is progressing through the House to a point where it will reach completion this evening. I think it's a fair assessment to say for the first 18 months of the lifetime of this government, we've seen very little by way of legislation come through the House, and suddenly we're under dramatic pressure to get legislation like this through without any sort of real scrutiny, which is why we're all here. And it begs the question as to who is writing this type of legislation, who's writing transport policy for this country. I mean, there's certain words in there that just reads like an advert for Ryanair. I mean, how do you determine what connectivity is? That's what the amendment here seeks to put in as a definition of that. But instead, we're going to have a situation where a future minister will have to determine what takes priority. Is it connectivity or is it climate? And I'm having to hope that future ministers will understand that an obligation isn't a choice. An obligation is something that we must do, and to exempt this from Section 15 of the Climate Act is ultimately quite preposterous. I know I raised it with you last week, Minister, that the crux of this legislation in the first instance wasn't necessarily to do with climate, but to do with local infrastructure. And those issues prevail, they remain, yet here we are knowing more, and when you know more, surely we must do more. And in that regard, we now stand to place a level of power that is centralised in a ministerial order that concerns me and should concern those watching on. We have bodies in place that are statutorily responsible for the land use in Ireland, for the planning of infrastructure in this country. And you don't need me to tell you of how abject a failure the strategic housing development policy was, whereby it bypassed local authorities, went straight to encompassing planala. You're saying you got rid of it? And now we're looking to do the same thing by bypassing local authorities, by bypassing encompassing planala. Who are the bodies responsible for making very important planning decisions? They'll never be perfect, neither will this house. But to bypass is a concern for me, and one that I want to really emphasise on the record this evening. We're speaking about this in a context where I think the WHO has recognised that there's been 1,300 excess deaths in the last month due to the heat wave that has taken over central Europe. Every conversation about aviation expansion must primarily focus surely on our future and on our climate future. We don't record carbon emissions through aviation in our budgets. That's something that's wrong. That's something that we need to really consider. But those obligations, Minister, I tell you from speaking to Mally, and I'm sure you're speaking to the same sectoral interests, the experts out there who tell us putting more exemptions into section 15 of the Climate Act, that doesn't help the situation. Actually, what it does is it stands to dramatically undermine the importance of the Climate Act. And that's ultimately why I believe we are guillotined in legislation like this, to stymie the debate, to undermine the PLS report that was so comprehensive. Where are those recommendations in this legislation at all? And I'll finish on this piece, Minister. What we have is the potential whereby in bringing forward this legislation, we have future ministers who are liable to end up in court by way of not fulfilling its duty with current Climate Act legislation. I would look forward to your comment on that. It is unlawful, and I put that on the record of the House, that what we're trying to do is not only bypass the statutory bodies, but also not to oblige and not to fulfil our obligations on domestic law alone when it comes to the Climate Act. That merits further scrutiny, yet in 60 minutes or so, it'll all be done and dusted. Thank you, Deputy Murphy. Thank you.