Paul Murphy Presses Minister on Fossil Fuel Advertising Ban

I'm sure the Minister has seen the comments by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres calling for a ban on fossil fuel advertising, correctly describing the fossil fuel companies as the godfathers of climate chaos who rake in record profits while the most vulnerable are being left stranded. I asked the Taoiseach about this a couple of weeks ago and he said he would speak to Minister Ryan to ask you to share a view on the comments of the UN Secretary General. Has he done so and what view did you share? Thank you Deputy, I have not been consulted by the Taoiseach yet with regard to fossil fuel advertising which I would in principle support, while I would in principle support such a ban, advertising standards do not fall within the remit of my own department. Much however has been done to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels which I believe answers Secretary General Guterres call. This department, or our department, no longer accepts new applications for exploration licences for natural gas or oil, nor will there be any future licensing rounds. A policy statement on petroleum exploration and production in Ireland was published in August 2022, reflecting the current policy and legislative position of the Government on petroleum exploration and protection. Recent legislative amendments made to the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act 1960, through the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Amendment Act 2021, have placed this commitment on a statutory basis. Furthermore, work is ongoing to end the issuing of prospecting licences, mining licences or leases for coal, lignite and oil shale, through the provisions of the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022, to be commenced soon. More generally, work is continuing to end our reliance on fossil fuels, through the development of renewable and sustainable energy sources. Our membership of the likes of Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, and our leadership, I think internationally, by not exploring for fossil fuels, by not investing state funds in fossil fuel companies, and by the measures I mentioned there, the end of fracking, here, I think give us a response to Secretary General Guterres that is different to most other countries. How we would go further in advertising is something that our department doesn't have responsibility for, in principle, I can see the merit of what he's saying, but how exactly you would apply it is something we would have to consider. There's no work being done to date on my department or any other I'm aware of to turn that into reality. It's interesting you say your department is not responsible, because I got a letter from the Count Corlea disallowing one of the questions that I put, asking whether you would support such a ban, saying that the Minister has no official responsibilities at all, Aaron, the advertising standards authority for Ireland is the self-regulatory organisation. Do you know, did your department have any hand in encouraging the Count Corlea in disallowing that question? It seems to be very strange to say that neither your department, nor any department, it seems, would answer a question about this, because it's a matter for the advertising standards, whereas clearly this is a political measure. Do you know, it was the Department of Health, as far as I remember, that introduced the bill in terms of banning tobacco advertising. This is a measure that should be taken in terms of public health and in terms of climate action, which clearly is your department. We know that the fossil fuel companies have known since 1957 that burning fossil fuels causes increased CO2 levels. We know that they engage in massive, expensive campaigns of disinformation, just like the tobacco companies, to avoid that evidence coming out. And we need to treat the fossil fuel industry like the tobacco industry, banning advertising their products and promoting them through sponsorships. I didn't have any discussions with the Count Corlea, I would never do, in terms of, he's an independent constitutional office holder, and he decides, I think he was probably making a correct call, in terms of, our department doesn't have specific authority around advertising standards. Now, you make the case that in previous instances, the Department of Health may have been involved in ending tobacco advertising, or amending it, and I will look at that in terms of, what, you know, can a line department introduce standards in advertising. I would have thought it's more, that would also have to go through the culture, media minister, my colleague Catherine Martin, in terms of the application of it. I don't believe we should just hand over responsibility for an industry-led advertising standards body, they do good work, but in terms of public policy measures, the state still has a role. But the exact mechanism in this case is slightly different to the tobacco advertising restriction, because the definition of what you would or wouldn't include or allow in advertising is quite broad. It goes into the transport sector, the energy sector, you could argue, for example, does that include fossil-based fertilisers or other products, going back to what we were discussing earlier in circular economy, waste, oil-based plastics, and so on. The complexity of the climate challenge we face, and the addressing it, is that fossil fuels are embedded in so many elements of our society. A simple reduction or change to advertising standards that we saw, not simple, but the very beneficial one in tobacco advertising, is not as easy applied here, because of the variety of different elements of fossil fuels in our life. I would argue, though it is at least as important, if not more, that there's a public health element. One in ten children in this country are currently suffering from asthma, fossil fuel cars are a major contributor to that, and, of course, the biggest challenge facing humanity as a whole, climate catastrophe, with the fossil fuel companies being the number one culprits. You, yourself, have been the subject of a personalised campaign by the number one polluter from this country. Of course, they don't just use their influence, their public presence, and their money to try and demonise those who would be in favour of climate action. They also use it to try to encourage the consumption of fossil fuels. Like, advertising works, it's why more than a trillion dollars a year is spent worldwide, hundreds of billions of euros spent on fossil fuel advertising. It shapes people's behaviour. And I think freeing people from ads for fossil fuels, ads for fossil fuel cars, ads for flights, that would actually improve people's lives. We have a bill to do precisely that, we've introduced it at first stage, I wonder whether you'll support it at second stage. First, in my response, I said at the start, in principle, I agree with you. I think there's a real issue around if our world is burning, which it is, and if the people are profiteering from that, should we be, you know, how can we reduce demand, or reduce the impacts of advertising for such products that are causing damage? So I don't disagree in principle. The exact means for application is something we'd have to consider and think about and work out how we do. It is starting to happen already. You're starting to see a lot of, for example, in a lot of cultural or other institutions, the idea that you would accept sponsorship now from a fossil fuel company is increasingly contested and restricted in effect by public peer pressure and so on. So there are changes happening in that regard. And I think the, but the statutory or legislative means for implementing it, I don't know of an example globally, I haven't seen the examples. I think it would be good to see other examples in other countries where restrictions to advertising have taken place. And on that basis, then we can see, well, could we start applying the same here? In principle, I agree. But the exact mechanism, you'd have to, it is more complex than, for example, tobacco advertising, the one we mentioned earlier. Thank you very much.