Loss & Damage

Full Transcript: I am glad Deputy O’Rourke referenced the report from Christian Aid and Trócaire. I hosted them in the audiovisual room on Tuesday where they presented their report. I thank the Minister for attending that briefing.

I acknowledge the central role the Minister played at COP27 in landing this loss and damage facility, flawed and all as it might. I praise the work of Irish officials at the transitional committee, particularly Dr. Sinead Walsh. I hope Dr. Walsh does not mind me naming here.

It would be helpful for Members if we could have a detailed briefing – on a cross-party basis – on the outcome of the transitional committee in order that we can all get to grips with the level of detail that is involved, and the level of ambition that we need to set out in terms of loss and damage. I agree with Deputy O’Rourke it cannot be climate mitigation. It cannot be climate adaptation. It cannot be ODA. This needs to be a separate funding stream however we use that mosaic of funding sources.

I was hoping for an update on the Minister’s recent attendance at the pre-COP28 meeting. Question No. 22 deals with the matter. Most likely, it will not be reached.

Deputy Eamon Ryan

I very much appreciated going to that event hosted by Deputy Ó Cathasaigh. It was useful. There is real urgency. The reason we support the World Bank is because we need to be quick. The former US Vice-President, Al Gore, stated in a good presentation earlier on the summer that there is a €1 billion climate impact event happening every 18 days. It is happening now. It is here and now. However, we have to recognises that the more we invest in mitigation and adaptation, the less we will have to invest in loss and damage. They are connected. They compliment each other. That is why I say we need a mosaic of finance solutions. We need a variety of different financing solutions in mitigation, in adaptation, and in loss and damage. What Ireland continues to say, and will say in Dubai, is what we are really focusing on is to make sure that the investment goes, in particular, to the most vulnerable countries. In climate financing to date, that has not happened. Through our ODA programme, my Department and the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Finance, we have a proud record of supplying grant-led, not-tied, locally empowered support. The doubling of our climate finance, which we will deliver the year after next, to €225 million is a not insignificant achievement of which we should be proud. However, we need to go further. One of the best ways of going further is, in the context of the negotiations, looking to get money from the polluters and from global financial flows, because the scale of the financing we need, as was set out in that report, is beyond compare.