Last government could have done better at helping Midlands adjust to peat-cutting ban

HELP GIVEN TO the Midlands to adapt to the peat-cutting ban was done in a reactive, rather than proactive, way, a new expert advisory group has said.
The government should take lessons from the Midlands case study and have a better-planned approach in the future when helping other areas that are affected by climate action measures.
That message comes as part of a report about how Ireland can ensure a just transition as it navigates the climate crisis.
The idea of a just transition is about making sure that vulnerable groups people, communities and places aren't put at a disadvantage by the climate transition – either by climate change itself, or as a result of measures adopted to try to fight it – and can instead experience the benefits of climate action.
That is to say, climate action should make life better, not worse, and it should be done fairly.
In its first report, the new Just Transition Commission has taken stock of how Ireland is currently doing at trying to make the climate transition a just one.
The answer, in short: We've made a start, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done to help people who are most affected by the climate transition and to make sure people can understand and experience the benefits of Ireland taking climate action.
Mending the Midlands
One of the first ways that Ireland has had to deal with a large number of people experiencing negative effects of a climate action measure was through the peat extraction ban.
In 2022, the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition government introduced a ban on the commercial sale of peat for fuel.
This was in line with the country's efforts to switch to renewable sources of energy instead of fossil fuels that produce harmful greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for trapping heat inside the atmosphere and forcing average global temperatures upwards.
But in the Midlands, where peat extraction was both an economic and cultural tradition for many families, it was a disconcerting blow.
'Ireland's experience with closing peat-fired power stations and ending commercial peat extraction in the Midlands offers important lessons for how to put just transition into practice,' the Commission's report said.
The introduction of the government's just transition initiative came after the decision to cease peat extraction, not before.
That meant it was much more of a reactive measure than a proactive one, the report said.
As a result, its role in reducing disruption and mitigating impacts on workers, families and communities was limited.
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The Commission stated that 'meaningful' just transition needs the state to take action 'well in advance' of decisions that bring about significant change.
Reaping the rewards of climate action
Creating a Just Transition Commission was mooted in the 2021 Climate Action Plan, but it took the government until 2024 to establish it.
The Commission is made up of ten members, including representatives from sectors like agriculture, business and trade unions as well as climate experts, and chairperson Ali Sheridan.
A core message of the report is that climate action should help to address and alleviate inequalities in society, not make them worse.
It says the government shouldn't just try to soften the potential negative impacts of climate action measures but should also seek out the positive side-effects of climate action for the country – and explain what those are.
The report states that there is a real risk that the climate transition could deepen existing inequalities in society unless deliberate action is taken to make sure that doesn't happen.
'We're at a critical time for climate action at large in Ireland,' said Commission chair Ali Sheridan.
'We're emerging from years, potentially decades, of understanding what we need to do in terms of what the science depicts and how we need to respond to it, but now we have to do much better at explaining how we're going to do it – who is going to be impacted, who is going to be the most vulnerable, and where it is we're trying to get to.'
Speaking to
The Journal
, Sheridan said that the way just transition is handled currently in the government's climate action plans is focused largely on maximising employment opportunities.
But it shouldn't be only about the number of jobs, Sheridan said. Rather, it needs to account for the quality of the jobs – making sure the employment is accessible and sustainable.
A just transition would create 'an Ireland that builds a better future for all and ensures that no one is left behind'.
'While Ireland was not a major fossil fuel producer, that doesn't mean we're not going to be exposed in terms of climate risks and transitions. And while our transition might be more subtle, that shouldn't be conflated with being a softer or easier transition. In fact, it could be a much more widely spread, diverse transition,' Sheridan said.
Public support
The report also highlights that failing to make Ireland's climate transition a just one risks weakening public support for climate action.
'We're very lucky in Ireland that we still have a vast majority of the public who support ambitious climate action, but that's not the case around the world,' Sheridan said.
'If we're not very proactive in the very near future in setting out what it is we're attempting to do, how it's going to benefit society and how society is going to be protected, the risk of disinformation in this space is going to continue to grow,' she said.
'We're going to need acceptance and an appetite for what we need to do, so we need to set out how that's going to benefit people.
'Only a planned transition can be a fair transition, and so a just transition depends on not only the ambition, but the delivery of climate action targets and goals as well.'
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