I support the intentions and objectives of the Bill. Clean air was one of the first issues I brought up under Questions on Policy or Legislation so it is extremely important. As my colleague An Teachta Daly said, air does not know any borders. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, as a strong united-Irelander, knows that too. It is absolutely pivotal to our health and our well-being. It is something that many of us might not think about on a day-to-day basis but it is absolutely essential to our way of life. Air pollution has a serious impact on public health and the environment. Indeed, it is the biggest environmental risk to our health. The European Environment Agency estimates that over 1,600 premature deaths occur annually in Ireland due to air pollution from causes, including respiratory illness, stroke and cardiovascular disease. That is ten times the number of people who died on our roads last year. It really is a huge figure. It is a public health emergency and I really welcome this Bill because those numbers are staggering. These deaths are also impacting on our healthcare services which cannot afford any more strain. These conditions require treatment that costs healthcare providers around €56 million. Polluting our air makes no sense for our health or our pockets. The pollutants of most concern to us are to be found in the burning of solid fuels for home heating, such as coal, turf and wet wood. Even though bans have been in place in Ireland for these smoky fuels for many years and the 1987 Act restricts the distribution and sale of smoky fuels, there has been little or no enforcement. The local authorities are responsible for enforcement and have been hindered in their ability to enforce the law due to some deficiencies in the 1987 Act. Under-resourcing and the erosion of power within local authorities under consecutive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments means that local authorities find it increasingly difficult to do their job in all these sectors. It is all very well to amend older Acts to empower local authorities but if they are not resourced properly, how can we expect them to properly carry out their job? This is something that comes up time and again at the climate committee. We really have to look at proper funding for local authorities. We need resourcing of the local authorities as they are currently underequipped to enforce environmental regulations. I also welcome that this Bill will not interfere with turbary rights or impose new restrictions on households. It will protect those who register and sell their fuels properly, who meet standards, and who sell clean and compliant products, which is very welcome. Those who act properly within the confines of the laws should not be undercut by those who ignore the rules and sell cheaper, dirty fuel. Having said that, it is important to recognise that there are communities where families depend on solid fuel for their heating. Not every household can afford to buy more expensive, higher standard fuel. In 2022, some 54% of households were using solid fuels to heat their home with 16% using them as their primary source of heating. People have had to turn to these sources of fuel because of the rise in the price of home heating oil which is only set to get worse as we have discussed at length in this Chamber. Sinn Féin has repeatedly called for investment in renewables. However, what is the point in investing in renewable energy if it will only be used to facilitate the insatiable energy demands of data centres? I know this is about local authorities but we cannot turn a blind eye to this. Now is the time to invest in renewable energy to ensure lower electricity prices for households and to shield them from a volatile market. We must be sure that this energy is not directly funnelled into expanding data centre capacity. Sinn Féin has been consistent about this. I have been consistent about it at the climate committee as well. We cannot keep up with the demand for data centres. We cannot keep building more data centres and giving them half the price of electricity that everyone else gets and that ordinary households pay. We are not just running to stand still; we are running and we are still going backwards. We have to move on that. We have always stated our opposition to the likes of the carbon tax, for example, until proper alternatives are available for people. That is also something I have always spoken about. Carbon taxes can work only where there is an alternative. If people can afford clean energy, I have no problem with their being taxed for using dirty energy but the alternative simply is not there. I have said before that when the CFCs were in our aerosols, the Government and the EU did not put a tax on aerosols or on the CFCs that were in the aerosols; they banned them. We have to make sure we have clean energy because the carbon tax, while there is no alternative, simply will not work. We are only punishing those who are worse off when they have no alternatives at their disposal. That same logic that we applied when we were protecting the ozone layer must be applied here. We need support measures and affordability schemes alongside this legislation to help those people make that transition and not penalise them for circumstances beyond their control. Tens of thousands of homes across rural Ireland are not connected to the gas network. Even in my constituency, right next to Dublin, Maynooth and Leixlip have gas but Prosperous and Clane do not. They do not have affordable alternatives. They cannot simply switch energy at the stroke of a pen. We already have 320,000 households and counting in energy arrears across the State, a number which will only increase with Trump's illegal war and Israel's illegal war on Iran. Therefore, while it is important we keep reducing our air pollution for our own health and well-being as well as the State's coffers, it is important we do not punish those who are already to the pin of their collar for simply trying to keep warm.

Sentiment score: 0.07