Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The UK Government as a whole has set fairly ambitious targets as well in regard to climate. In Northern Ireland and in terms of the all-island context, we believe climate is an obvious issue for the shared island unit and the shared island dialogue series. There has been one very good series of all-island dialogues North and South. Climate does not recognise any border so it is very important Northern Ireland would sign up to this and all of its implications. There are opportunities here as well in terms of the creation of jobs.

I would like to see joint actions between ourselves and the Northern Ireland Executive on biodiversity projects. I am saying to colleagues on the Border and in the North that there are opportunities for funding from the shared island fund in respect of the protection and so on of biodiversity. That is just one concrete example of where we could do something really effective on the ground. We also need to get alignment on awareness of the issues and on development of the debate around climate change. We are anxious to pursue that through the dialogue series and to get an all-island approach to it. We will work with all parties and, in particular, civil and environmental groups that are focused on this area to ensure we get unit of approach.