Sinn Féin spokesperson on Climate Action and Environment, Darren O’Rourke TD, has hit out at the government for failing to introduce any new measures for climate in its budget for 2025.

Teachta O’Rourke said:

“Budget 2025 is an indictment of this government’s lack of effective ambition and leadership when it comes to tackling the climate crisis and the decline in nature.

“In a shocking move, the government decided that there would be no capital increases for the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications in this year’s budget, and spending went up by a paltry €10 million in current expenditure.

“Sinn Féin’s alternative budget, by contrast, provided €200m more than the government, investing almost €850m in the Energy Transition.”

“According to the EPA and the CCAC, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens have placed Ireland on a path to certain climate failure. Their plan to tackle the climate crisis will only see us get around 70% of the way there at best. However, this is only if they do everything they say they are going to do. At the rate they are going – this seems incredibly unlikely.

“According to the latest progress report for Q1 and Q2 2024, only 60% of the actions were completed on time by government. The figure was around the same for 2023. These failures are exacerbated by the fact that climate action is supposed to be ramping up exponentially in the second half of the decade. Instead of speeding up, we are slowing down and the government is unwilling to commit any more resources to reverse this trajectory.

“Take for example the government’s retrofitting scheme. The government has elected to stick with the planned figure of €469m as was contained in the 2021 Climate Action Plan. Given how far behind we are in terms of achieving the target of achieving 500,000 BER B2 or higher retrofits and 400,000 heat pumps by 2030, this is an unforgivable misstep.

“Sinn Féin on the other hand would invest over €600m into a radically overhauled residential and community retrofit programme, including an increase in €50m for solar PV and €50m to establish a dedicated fund to retrofit solid fuel homes.

“As for social housing, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens have shown their true colours and failed to increase investment whatsoever. By contrast, Sinn Féin have increased the resourcing for local authority housing by a third.

“Sinn Féin’s plan is to spend more where it matters and to start now. It is an ambitious costed proposal to move all households to a B2 BER insulation standard with a tiered, area-targeted, scheme aimed at low- and middle-income households.

“Directing scarce labour resources to the coldest homes is the best use of public money, is socially equitable and will show the best return on public investment in achieving emissions reduction targets.

“Yet again, the government has failed to invest in Nature Restoration, whereas in Sinn Féin we have proposed an initial investment of €50m to kickstart our efforts to halt the decline in nature and to ensure that farmers are paid adequately for the ecosystem services they are performing.

“And as for this ‘grid fund’, it is a complete red herring and used to deflect from the fact that the government has nothing new for climate in Budget 2025. First, what the investment is being used for is to pay for Phase 1 grid connections – something that was always going to happen. There is nothing new in this, and there is no money allocated for it in 2025.

“More spin and bluster from a government that is only interested in eco-austerity and punitive measures rather than the supply side investment required to deliver a just and fair transition.

“In Sinn Féin, we have proposed real, new measures with the establishment of a Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF) of €750m, for example, with €50m in year one. This will ramp up quickly. This will be used to increase public ownership, to invest in our ports and to invest in grid expansion and upgrade.

“It is high time the government got honest with people. Budget 2025 was yet another missed opportunity. There are progressive and fair ways to do climate action – that’s what’s meant by a Just Transition.

“This is the type of transition Sinn Féin is committed to – one that is accessible, affordable and sustainable. People in Ireland deserve nothing less. It is clear that a change of government will be needed before this is realised.”