Carol Nolan Warns £146m Cut to Just Transition Hits Midlands

Go ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra, Teachta, under the European Commission's New Generation EU Package, it was proposed that the budget for the EU Just Transition Fund would increase from £7.5 billion to £40 billion over the period 2021 to 2027. The proposed allocations to all Member States would then increase as a result of this. Through a series of parliamentary questions I have placed on this matter, I have been able to establish that as part of the proposed increase, the allocation to Ireland was set to jump from £29.9 million to £176 million. We now know that this isn't going to happen and that there is a potential loss of £146 million that we will just have to do without. The European Just Transition Fund has in fact been slashed and with that any real prospect of delivering outcomes that can combine the retention and protection of jobs with the goal of protecting our environment. This has been my major concern throughout this entire process. The balance has been entirely wrong for the Midlands and I have said it all along, especially for the workers and the families, the workers with mortgages and young families in Offaly, who have been and will continue to be the ones most directly impacted. In fact, the vast majority of workers and families that I meet now associate the transition process with the transition process with the prioritisation of vague and aspirational green agendas over the creation of real and sustainable employment and, indeed, most importantly, the protection of livelihoods. And is it any wonder that they think like this? The Just Transition process was supposed to take place over the period up to 2030 to give everybody a fair chance to adjust. And that has been dramatically shortened to just 12 months. Board Namona ceased all peat production as part of its enhanced peatland rehabilitation scheme in June, after months of legal battles, which were initiated by idealistic environmentalists, and a High Court decision to strike down harvesting exemptions provided by existing exemptions provided by the previous government. I do understand that in terms of the BOG rehabilitation scheme, that 15 million has been made available in the July stimulus plan, and the Board Namona workers were made aware of this, but we need a substantial amount of money and far more than 15 million. Despite all the rhetoric about increasing supports to make the transition process fair and protective of jobs, we have seen practically no evidence of this happening on the ground. Indeed, there is much frustration among communities in Offaly, Leash and the wider Midlands area. An example of this can be seen in the peat and horticulture contractors sector, who invested in new and very expensive machinery in the expectation that the 2020 season was progressing, only to be told without any consultation that the harvesting was not going to happen at all. We know from the Chief Executive of Offaly County Council that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform have advised that legislation is required at national level to allow the Council to distribute funds that are being provided. And this is despite the fact that Offaly County Council is driving the transition process and is where the Just Transition Commissioner is based. Will you accept, Taoiseach, that the entire process is now at risk of descending into complete dysfunction and that it is utterly failing to protect and serve the very communities and jobs it was supposed to save? Thank you very much, Taoiseach. Thank you Deputy for raising the issue. And just to say at the outset that in relation to the £146 million that was taken out of the Rural Development Fund under the Next Generation, under what was proposed allocation, I secured £337 million alternative funding in respect of agriculture. So we made up that particular loss that we were entitled to. And furthermore, the Common Agricultural Policy will now have a higher share of the multi-annual financial framework than it otherwise would have had under the pre-existing proposal that came from the Commission. But to focus in on the immediate issues of the application of Just Transition policies and funding to the Midlands, and indeed to Offaly, you can take it that the Government is very focused on this. And as you correctly outlined, made provision in terms of the July stimulus programme in respect of the £15 million that you alluded to in terms of peat reclamation. And also to say that under the Government's programme in terms of the carbon fund that will be established, a ring-fenced fund, that specific measures and funding will be allocated to, particularly to the Midlands, to provide alternative employment to workers who will be losing jobs on an ongoing basis because of the policy changes and regulatory changes that have occurred, both at European and Irish governmental level in terms of meeting our climate change objectives and in respect of the issues pertaining to peat harvesting, which have, from a regulatory perspective and from a planning and decision perspective, have been accelerated in contrast to the original deadlines. So we're very conscious of it and we're prioritising the Midlands in terms of allocation of funding from Just Transition to create new enterprises and alternative employment. That is why significant funding from the carbon fund will also go towards retrofitting initiatives, the substantial funding going from the July stimulus programme to retrofitting initiatives to create employment. And the Midlands will be prioritised in terms of the retrofitting scheme and in terms of other measures to try and create new economic activity in the area. And we will be relying predominantly on our own resources in terms of the Just Transition Fund, which will be allocated through both the General Carbon Fund and Exchequer Resources to do everything we possibly can, to an a large extent, create an alternative economy now in the Midlands into the future and to do it in a phased way. Thank you for your response and I do welcome the fact that the Midlands will be prioritised. But I do have to outline my concerns with the whole Just Transition process again. It's just not coming together. It's not coming together quickly enough and I don't think that there's a sense of urgency. I mean, we were only recovering in the Midlands from the last recession and then we were hit with this. So it is going to have a detrimental effect. And I do believe that, you know, we need to create a huge number of jobs. We need to be focused on creating a huge number of jobs and not just a handful of jobs here and there. I mean, I know that Minister Ryan, when I raised this whole issue with him, he told me that Board of Nemona needed to look at how to diversify in order to create jobs. But it's not Board of Nemona's role to create jobs. It's government's role to drive that. And I believe that the IDA needs to take a more proactive role in terms of helping us in the Midlands to ensure that job creation does take place and takes place quickly. And my final point is this. The just transition process is happening in the larger context of our ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. But only last year, the former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 will cost the UK over £1 trillion. He said that such a cost meant that less money would be available for schools, police, hospitals and other areas of public spending. He also warned that the target would render some industries economically uncompetitive without huge government subsidies. Thank you, Deputy. Has any such impact analysis been carried out here, Taoiseach? Because that is my fear, that we're rushing towards environmental objectives where the costs in terms of jobs are being ignored or dismissed. Thank you very much, Taoiseach to conclude on this matter. I think the Deputy makes fair points and I think this has to be done in a way that we protect livelihoods and families who are in traditional employment and in traditional employments that are now under threat because of the inevitable change. And I think we have to accept that that change is inevitable. But what we have to try and do is work with the families and the workers and the communities involved to make sure it's a fair transition. Not an immediate cliff fall type transition or, you know, event, but rather one that is planned and worked through. And it has to be in all areas of economic activity. And I would ask and I will talk to Minister Ryan and perhaps I think perhaps we should set up a meeting with the other deputies in the area. I know Deputy Cown has been very strong in relation to just transition, to be fair. And he would have laid from the front in terms of ensuring a strong policy prioritization of the just transition fund for Ireland and particularly its application to the Midlands. So I think a useful meeting could take place with the Minister in that regard, because I know Minister Ryan is very genuine and sincere in wanting to create alternative employment through renewables, through peace reclamation, through retrofitting. And then, as you mentioned as well, you know, the Industrial Development Authority and others, Enterprise Ireland have a role to play as well to support more modern industry in the region. Thank you. And the creation of jobs that are emerging in terms of digital and so on. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you. Thank you for your funding. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Mayor, buenas. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, all this country. Thank you. But we are coming to me. Thank you. I'm perfect. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,ль. And you and Angel. ہ這麼軍. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Robert Ray.