Under the European Commission's Next Generation EU package, it was proposed that the budget for the EU just transition fund would increase from €7.5 billion to €40 billion over the period 2021 to 2027. The proposed allocations to all member states would then increase as a result. Through a series of parliamentary questions I tabled on this matter, I have been able to establish that as part of this proposed increase the allocation for Ireland was set to jump from €29.9 million to €176 million. We now know this is not going to happen and there is a potential loss of €146 million we will have to do without.

The European just transition fund has in fact been slashed and with it any real prospect of delivering outcomes that can combine the retention and protection of jobs with the goal of protecting our environment. This has been my major concern throughout this entire process. I have said all along that the balance has been entirely wrong for the midlands, especially for the workers and families. Workers with mortgages and young families in County Offaly have been and will continue to be the ones most directly impacted. The vast majority of workers and families I meet now associate the transition process with the prioritisation of vague and aspirational green agendas over the creation of real and sustainable employment and, most importantly, the protection of their livelihoods. Is it any wonder that they think like this? The just transition process was supposed to take place over the period up to 2030 to give everybody a fair chance to adjust. That has been dramatically shortened to just 12 months. Bord na Móna ceased all peat production as part of its enhanced peatland rehabilitation scheme in June after months of legal battles initiated by idealistic environmentalists and a High Court decision to strike down harvesting exemptions provided by the previous Government.

I understand €15 million has been made available under the July stimulus plan for the bog rehabilitation scheme and that the Bord na Móna workers were made aware of this but we need a substantial amount of money, far more than €15 million. Despite all the rhetoric about increasing supports to make the transition process fair and protective of jobs, we have seen practically no evidence that this is happening on the ground. Indeed, there is much frustration among communities in counties Offaly and Laois and in the wider midlands area. An example of this can be seen in the peat and horticultural contractor sector. They invested in new and expensive machinery in the expectation that the 2020 season was progressing, only to be told without any consultation that the harvesting was not going to happen at all. We know from the chief executive of Offaly County Council that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has advised that legislation is required at national level to allow the council to distribute funds that are being provided. This is despite the fact that Offaly County Council is driving the transition process and the just transition commissioner is based in the county.

Does the Taoiseach accept that the entire process is now at risk of descending into complete dysfunction and that it is utterly failing to protect and serve the very communities and jobs it was supposed to help save?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. At the outset, I wish to address the €146 million that was taken out of the proposed allocation to the rural development fund. As I secured €337 million in alternative funding for agriculture, we more than made up for that particular loss. Furthermore, the Common Agricultural Policy will now have a higher share of the multi-annual financial framework than it otherwise would have had under the pre-existing proposal that came from the Commission.

On the immediate issue of the application of just transition policies and funding to the midlands and to County Offaly specifically, the Deputy can take it that the Government is very focused on this. As she correctly outlined, provision was made in the July stimulus programme for €15 million for peat reclamation. In addition, under the Government's programme and the ring-fenced carbon fund that will be established, specific measures and funding will also be allocated, particularly to the midlands, to provide alternative employment to workers who will be losing jobs on an ongoing basis because of the policy and regulatory changes that have occurred at both domestic and European level entailed by our climate change objectives.

The issues pertaining to peat harvesting have, from a regulatory, planning and decision perspective, been accelerated compared with the original deadlines. As such we are very conscious of the issues and we are prioritising the midlands where allocation of just transition funds are concerned, to create new enterprises and alternative employment. That is why significant funding from the carbon fund will also go toward retrofitting initiatives. There is substantial funding going from the July stimulus programme to retrofitting initiatives to create employment. The midlands will be prioritised for the retrofitting scheme and for other measures to try to create new economic activity in the area. We will be relying predominantly on our own resources for the just transition fund, which will be allocated through both the general carbon fund and Exchequer resources to do everything we possibly can to create, to a large extent, an alternative economy in the midlands in the future and to do so in a phased way.

I thank the Taoiseach for his response and welcome the fact that the midlands will be prioritised. However, I must outline my concerns with the whole just transition process again.

It is not coming together quickly enough and I do not think there is a sense of urgency. The midlands were only recovering from the last recession and then we were hit with this. It is going to have a detrimental effect and I believe we need to be focused on creating a huge number of jobs and not just a handful here and there. When I raised this issue with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, he told me Bord na Móna needed to look at how to diversify to create jobs but it is not Bord na Móna's role to create jobs. It is the Government's role to drive this. IDA Ireland needs to take a more proactive role in helping us in the midlands to ensure job creation takes place quickly.

The just transition process is happening in the larger context of our ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Only last year, a former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer stated the target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 will cost the UK more than £1 trillion. He said that such a cost meant less money would be available for schools, police, hospitals and other areas of public spending. He also warned that the target would render some industries economically uncompetitive without huge Government subsidies. Has any such impact analysis been carried out here? My fear is we are rushing towards environmental objectives where the costs in terms of jobs are being ignored or dismissed.

The Deputy makes fair points and this has to be done in a way that we protect livelihoods and families who are in traditional employments that are under threat because of the inevitable change. We have to accept this change is inevitable but what we must try to do is work with the families, workers and communities involved to make sure it is a fair transition and not an immediate cliff fall event but rather one that is planned and worked through. It has to be in all areas of economic activity.

I will speak to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and perhaps we should set up a meeting with other Deputies in the area. Deputy Cowen has been very strong on the just transition, to be fair, and he has led from the front on ensuring strong policy prioritisation of the just transition fund for Ireland and particularly its application to the midlands. A useful meeting could take place with the Minister in this regard because he is genuine and sincere in wanting to create alternative employment through renewables, peat reclamation and retrofitting. As the Deputy mentioned, IDA Ireland and others, including Enterprise Ireland, have a role to play to support more modern industry in the region and the creation of jobs that are emerging in the digital economy.