Mr. Pádraic Fogarty:

I apologise for muting my microphone, there was a hailstorm here. I thank Deputy Whitmore for those questions. On the national parks, the idea of a national park for the Shannon region has been around for some time. It was proposed for the cut-away bogs. The problem with national parks, however, as I am sure the Deputy is aware, is that we do not have national parks' legislation. Apart from being an internationally recognised label, there is little substance behind it. We saw how a fire devastated Killarney National Park last week a. Fires regularly devastate the Wicklow Mountains National Park. People think that the idea behind national parks is to prioritise nature and conservation, but that is not what we see on the ground. A national park is a good tool for engaging local people, if the structures are right. Really, however, it is not a great way of restoring biodiversity.

Turning to the ecocide law, this is an interesting development. Several countries are now giving legal rights to nature. Rivers, for instance, may have the same power of prosecution as corporations in a court of law. The idea of ecocide is overdue, although I think much of the damage has already been done. Nevertheless, it would set down a marker that these crimes are simply unacceptable. In Ireland, I would particularly love to see an amendment to our Constitution to recognise the right of nature to exist and also the right we have as people to a healthy natural environment. If we were to couple those things with a massive education programme on the importance of nature to our lives and why we need to restore it, that is where we might unlock the real potential for addressing this crisis.