Mattie McGrath calls climate bill an 'unjust transition'

Minister Ryan, look I know you're a decent man and you're Shanna, Shanna, her honey show tipped on in the Calabansary, used to be a pub, you know, great routes in the country and I say it to you, it's nothing personal, it's just fundamentally opposed to what's happening in this bill. This rushed piece of legislation that had very little scrutiny, pre-lite scrutiny and that had, had, you know, kind of a bad feverish, one day last year on the Dáil, towards the evening, I think my name was going home, when the Dáil decided that we should have this climate and all parties and none signed up to it. They were trying to beat each other, who would be the strongest and who would be just the click and this is the social media, this is the media driven as well. And nobody is standing back to question it, nobody. We, and I want to thank the staff in my office, Moraine and indeed, Brina O'Donnell for doing the, she was walking the amendments and it's very disappointing when Cal, Deputy Cal Nolan and indeed Deputy Michael Conant and Deputy Michael Hillary Ray attended committee, as we were berated for not attending, but can I also say that, I don't want to blame the Secretary, but we weren't even notified of the committee. But we had a call from a journalist, Brina O'Donnell, to know why we weren't there, we weren't even notified of it. So there's some clandestine, kind of a secret, several, secret, incremental issue going on here. Shut those lads up, get it off, get it passed, don't accept any amendments, just leave it off. We have to do this and to help the consequence. Because this stems, and I'm speaking to the amendment, the one, two, three, one, a just transition, because it's not a just transition. It's a most unjust imposition. That's what it is. And the call of those words is really stretching the credibility of the bill and people who came up with these words and names and acronyms. It's not fair. It's not right. It's unfair to the English language. Today we're celebrating one of our famous artists and poets and author here in Dublin. You're using that. It's an unjust transition. It's an unjust imposition. Tell that to the people like David Nolan represents in Offaly, the bugs. Can I also say to you, Minister, like air grid transmission systems operators announced that amber alerts on electricity security supply for national grid on the 11th of September 2020, 6th of January and 27th of May 2021. And we trust them with managing the power. When I was in the communication committee with your good self, back in 2007 or 8 or 9, we went out to air grid and we saw the fascinating project. I was hugely amazed by it, just the sheer scale of it. But, you know what I mean, the amber alerts should be a wake-up call for you who's trying to stop the power plants. And we have, there are only three. There was another one back in October or November, a brown alert. Then we had, we have power cuts. I've got about 10 phone calls in recent weeks. One last Sunday week, power outage in the town of Caire. No explanation, no answers, nothing on the website about it. But equipment, highly expensive equipment, catering equipment, damage because of the outage with no warning. Well, that can happen, that can be an accident. The swan's off and hit the lines and things like that have happened in my own village. But this is something more serious. And when are we going to take the world from our eyes and open up and see? And I have a message for Fianna Fáil backbenchers and Fianna Gale backbenchers and independent TDs back in the government. If you're going to vote this too, and try and go back and tell the people in Tipperary and all over the country that, oh, you didn't realise it and this is, you had to because of the programme for government and all this. This won't wash when people will be in the dark, when people are going around with candles and flash their skin like the people they buy to find what they have in their kitchen and their houses. You can't get generators, we can't get, timber can't be sourced for houses. You have an SEAEI organisation doing the, and we had a Tipperary Energy Agency thing I was proud of in Tipperary. Now it's subsumed in some other big kind of numbers, gone away from local control. And people are waiting now two, two and a half years if they apply for a grant to do insulation. And one of our own amendments was suggesting it's reduced to vat on insulation. But no, all the policies that you have passed through the carbon tax has driven the price of insulation because it's oil waste upwards. It has driven timber up by 100%, steel up by 60%. So the cost of housing people has really gone through the roof. So I also want to ask you, the farmers have been mentioned here and the farming organisations have been blamed and trying to be demonised as being, I like Deputy Cairns and I heard what she said. And I was pleased with what she said, that no farmer gets up to do any damage to the environment. The custodians of the environment, they've made the living out of my own ancestors as well, and yours in that humble farm in the caravansary in Tipperary. And if you look close enough to your shoes, you'll still have the clay on them. You're that bit removed from Tipperary. But please feel the clay. Get down to the passion of the earth. Remember the famine. And we're going to create another famine of full charges and no light. We're going to be in some kind of a, you know, a prehistoric manhood and womanhood in our country. Again, if this nonsense goes on. Minister, Renewable Heat Fuel Obligation Scheme and the RHOs allow industry to advance competitive decarbonisation solutions for heat sector, supporting indigenous sources without bothering exchequer funding sources. You'll never look at this. In France, we've seen agri-biomaintain will be most competitive solution, allowing manufacturing and export industries to address their main issues, while also providing new income for farmers, turning the currently perceived emissions and water issues into, waste issues, sorry, into an opportunity. Why don't we do that? Why is the rush here? The indecent haste. Any legislation in the Trust, there's going to be flaws in it. This is a deeply flawed piece of legislation. Why don't you discuss with the farming organisation? Now, there are many organisations that have come to me and my group to rule independence. Some very late in the day, the IFA came here today and they were very late, a year late probably, and I don't know, have they bought into this, and will they realise, but they realise when they have no power for their milk machines. They have no power, how are they going to have tractors and everything else? But look, and they actually criticised us for being a scaremongering about the national herd. This comes from Professor John Fitzgerald and many other independent people. We can't get to what we want to get 2030 without calling the herd. And we saw the two elderly animals here today with the IFA and all the farmers out there. Let them live. I'd appeal to you a minute, take this bill, take the guillotine off, give us time to debate and discuss it. Engage with the people, because you're driving the people that are interested in climate change and just transition away from you. A bucket of, a spoon of honey is better than a bucket of vinegar. And I'd ask you to please get the honey out and try and bring the people with you. Because forcing them the other way, I'm surprised, it's a tyrannical 15 months we put down with Covid. And this is a further tyranny. I believe actually this climate change bill is a new red. The green is a new red now. It's a form of communism. It's going to troll people in their homes, in their houses, in their work and everything else. Making back little people. Back to where they were in prehistoric times. It's shameful, it's downright stupid and it's not necessary. Thank you.