TDs seek to remove State agencies from climate council

Opposition TDs are seeking to have four State-backed agencies removed from a new expert group on climate change in a bid to preserve its independence.

The Government’s climate-change Bill provides for the establishment of a new expert advisory council to assess the Government’s progress in cutting carbon emissions.

However, the inclusion of four ex-officio members from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Teagasc, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has proved controversial. Environmental campaigners claim the proposed format compromises the council's independence and flies in the face international practice.

Three Opposition TDs have tabled amendments to the Government’s climate action and low carbon development Bill 2015, which entered committee stage in the Dáil this week, seeking the removal of these parties from the council’s 10-member panel.

Support

Fianna Fáil’s

Barry Cowen

, Sinn Féin’s

Brian Stanley

and Independent TD Catherine Murphy instead want the four agencies to form a “technical secretariat” which would support the council’s work but be excluded from having a say in its final decisions.

The TDs, who are members of the Dáil's environmental committee, are also seeking to have the independence of the council "expressly guaranteed" in the Bill. Their proposed amendments echo the committee's own report into the Bill which advocated it should operate with a "high degree of independence" along the lines of the Fiscal Advisory Council, which comprises five independent members.

David Healy, policy and advocacy co-ordinator with Oxfam Ireland, said: "The Government hasn't even included a line in the Bill to say the climate advisory council will be independent in the performance of its functions, the formulation used for the Fiscal Advisory Council. If guaranteed independence is good enough for advice on the fiscal budget why not for climate policy?"

The Government is expected to establish its advisory council on climate change, with economist John FitzGerald as its chair, on an interim basis this week ahead of the legislation being enacted.

‘Too weak’

Meanwhile, a senior energy lawyer with the international environmental law organisation

Client Earth

, writing in today’s

Irish Times

, claimed the proposed legislation was “too weak” to ensure Ireland’s low-carbon transition.

"In our view, the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill, as drafted, falls short of the required standard in two important respects: it fails to put in place long-term nationally binding targets; and it establishes an expert body –the expert advisory council – which is not truly independent," said Jonathan Church.

He also said other European countries, including Britain, Finland and Denmark, in drafting and implementing their national climate laws, had placed emphasis on the independence of advisory bodies.

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan also criticised the Government over its proposed legislation, which is now three years overdue.

"It is clear that Ireland is becoming an increasing outlier in the transition that is starting to take shape. UN leader Ban Ki Moon gave a sharp message to the Irish Government during his recent visit when he reminded us that it was not right for Ireland to claim an exemption on climate ambition due to our high emissions from agriculture," he said.