TDs’ bid to change climate Bill ruled out by committee

Amendments seeking the removal of four State-backed agencies from the new expert group on climate change have been ruled out of order by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Environment.

The climate change Bill provides for the establishment of an expert advisory council to review the Government’s progress in cutting emissions.

The proposed format of the new body, which will be chaired by economist John FitzGerald, has proved controversial, however.

Environmental campaigners claim the automatic 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) will undermine its independence.

Responding to those concerns, Opposition TDs had tabled amendments to the Bill seeking to have the agencies’ role downgraded to that of a technical secretariat without voting rights.

However, as the Bill passed through committee stage in the Dáil yesterday, the amendments were ruled out on the grounds they would constitute an additional cost to the exchequer.

Committee chairman Michael McCarthy TD also ruled out other amendments seeking the adoption of binding emission reduction targets – seen by campaigners as a key weakness in the Bill – for the same reason.

The Government will formally establish the new expert group and announce its members at an event hosted by Met Éireann today. The new body will form a key plank of the State's climate change policy.

Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly told the committee the proposals to establish domestic mitigation targets did not take into account the legally binding targets already imposed on Ireland by the EU.

“There can be only two outcomes. Either the domestic mitigation targets are lower than the EU in which case they would be redundant or they are higher than those set by the EU in which case they would be seeking decarbonisation at a cost to the national economy thereby endangering our economic recovery and putting us at an economic disadvantage to the rest of the EU.”

However, he said he was not ruling out adopting additional amendments at the report stage, which may include proposals by committee members.

Describing the climate Bill as “deliberately weak in its design”, Independent TD Catherine Murphy said if no improvements were accepted by the Minister, it “will have virtually no hope of meaningfully tackling harmful emissions on the timescale it sets out”.