Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy Leader for taking the Order of Business today. Some 200 million people across the globe are living on land that is projected to be permanently below the tideline by the end of this century. Apart from that, chronic floods are set to affect 300 million people within the next three decades. We do not have to look that far ahead. In recent days, Dublin Cycling Campaign has highlighted that significant portions of the Dublin Bay South constituency - the constituency where we have all been pounding the pavements - are set to be below annual flood levels by 2030. It includes the Aviva Stadium, Trinity College Dublin and the whole of Sandymount and yet it is not coming up on the media. This is the most important issue of our time. It means that we need radical action. We need to ensure we put the funding of €1 million a day that is committed to under the programme for Government into cycling and walking. We are starting to do that. It is important that we do not bury our heads in the sand. We have heard about the small town in Canada where temperatures have reached 50°C. There are 250 people in that town and each person matters. Hundreds of millions, if not billions, of people across this globe are set to be impacted over the next few decades. We must play our part.

I refer to some of the Bills that the Government is bringing through the Houses. The climate action Bill passed Committee Stage yesterday and the Government took four amendments on board in relation to that Bill. However, that Bill has gone through almost a year's worth of pre-legislative scrutiny, not to mind decades of action by environmentalists and children, who last weekend stood outside Leinster House again. It is time to move on with these things. We must take on board amendments. The Green Party Senators' amendment was accepted. It promotes climate justice which is an international standard, and a just transition for the people of Ireland. We must also think about the intergenerational impact of doing nothing.We must protect workers. We also need to get on with taking the action which will protect our children and our children’s children.