Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Those were really powerful presentations and the witnesses certainly did not spare us. They got right to the point and they were so insightful. They spoke about storms creeping up the Atlantic and flooding that we are increasingly experiencing. They also mentioned hurricanes and we have never before had such storms. There was a running theme and, to follow my colleague, Senator Boylan, we must look at the exploitative nature of the economic system and how we keep extracting from the Earth. We cannot expect to keep extracting from a glass of a water and expect it to remain full.

If we look at our monetary system and how money came to exist, we will see that it came to exist as a little piece of paper to equate to the level of work you had done. It was basically an exchange of energy. Of course there should not be any billionaires. There should be nobody who is accumulating so much energy. Energy should be circulating and being evenly shared between everybody.

Education was talked about. It is amazing and sometimes regrettable how highly educated in climate action some people can be while being in denial about climate justice. We have to ensure we do not go into these hardcore climate denier positions. That is really important. Around education as well, Sky News does a good climate programme. I wonder if Comhairle na nÓg and Foróige could come together to talk to RTÉ about having their own climate programme once a week or something like that. It would be a good idea.

It is about getting back to basics. It brings a lump to your throat sometimes because it is back to basics and we must be radical in the change we are making. I was saying to two of our guests outside that when climate scientists came before us recently, they reminded us that the planet does not care how hard politics is for us or how hard it is to make difficult decisions. Sometimes we get tied up with the amount of work we do and how busy we are. It was good to have those climate scientists before us because it is said politicians only care about the polls, but the only poles we should really care about are the North and South Poles. The increase in sea levels that will be caused by the ice melting there will affect islands and especially low-lying ones.

We have been busy with the circular economy Bill, which relates to mending and repairing. I do not know if any of our guests have lived abroad but there are haberdashery stores in every village. I am a Deputy for Kildare North. McAuley Place in Naas is a place where older people live kind of together. Every week there are sessions where young people come in from the schools and are taught how to sew and knit. It is such a useful thing if your button falls off to be able to sew it back on.

Will our guests talk about the research that was mentioned with regard to labelling? Reference was also made to the facade of greenness that can be there in the form of greenwashing?

On rural transport, I was talking to a girl, Andrea, last night from Prosperous for whom two rural link buses did not turn up. She was late for her graduation. She was making a speech and she forgot it and did not have time to go back for it. Rural transport is so important for young people like our guests. If only we had decent public transport for them. My young boy - he is 30 now and is not young anymore - used to say he would never bother buying a car as he did not need one. We live in Maynooth, where there is plenty of public transport nearby, but there are areas in my constituency that do not have it. Since he started a family, he has had to buy a car. He could not afford to buy an electric car. He had to buy an ordinary banger. It was safe at least.

I am also interested in the Ecollective podcast. I am definitely going to find that.

Ms Aitken is right when she says the messaging around recycling is dreadful. When my kids go to their friends' houses and clean their stuff before they put in the bin, their friends ask them why. They explain that they do it because people in low-paid jobs are going to be handling these materials. Your recycling bin should be spotless. You should never have to clean it - maybe once a year for dust. It is about respect for other people, the planet and other countries. Could Ms Aitken return to that issue?

I loved Ms Cullen-Mouze's Irish language bit. It was interesting how much longer it is and what she picked up there.

I am sorry as I have gone over but the meeting has been so interesting. I ask what three things we should do immediately, if any of our guests want to talk about that.