Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As the Chairman has pointed out, we are talking about COP26 and the IPCC today so I will limit my comments. For the first time, the IPCC report looked at the projections on a regional basis. What is quite clear is that when we are looking at Ireland and northern Europe, we are looking at flooding and increased rainfall. A lot of the conversation has been around mitigation. What do we need to do in respect of adaptation? I am thinking in particular of our coastal areas as I come from the west of Ireland. Obviously, the Minister knows that we have motion in the Seanad today on flooding. What role do other Departments play in that adaptation, particularly the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage? The Department of Environment, Climate and Communications has an increased budget with core funding of 11.2% while the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has in the region of 9%. More is going into these Departments. What do we need to do as part of an all-of-government approach to this?

Regarding COP26, having come from pre-COP, it is clear that trust needs to be built. COP26 is an opportunity to do that. Part of it is climate finance. We have nowhere near reached the target of €100 billion as a developed world. What does the Minister see as the selling points in respect of trying to get everyone on board with that? We cannot expect countries in the developing world to play their part if the developed world does not, although the recent budget shows that Ireland is stepping up to the mark. We have our seat on the UN Security Council and have some influence. What will we do with that at COP26?

We can have all the funding we want but how do we ensure we see action on the ground? For example, we got a motion over the line regarding temporary cycle lanes in Salthill. How do we progress it? We have money and councillors are on board. What is the next step when it comes to progressing some of these initiatives so that we see action on the ground?