Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, the Chair of the committee and all its members for their engagement on this very important topic. Every minute counts in regard to this issue. This is the challenge of this generation and of this century. Members touched on how the immediate takes over in importance from the global. The immediate issues relate to putting food on the table, heating, inflation and all the other ones that every family in the country and throughout the world is facing.

Deputy Bruton pointed out the fact that it does not appear on the priority list of people because they prioritise the immediate problems of making sure they have enough food, heating for their homes and healthcare over an issue that seems so big it is hard to grasp how they, as individuals, we as citizens and all of the people on the planet can take on this challenge. This is where Government policies are what count. No individual could possibly tackle the issue of climate change. It is the same as if we said everybody was responsible for tackling the pandemic but let people decide themselves how to do so and provided advice. Clearly, that would never work. Climate change needs a global response, cathedral thinking or Newgrange thinking. It needs this level of thinking. Citizens will accept it but they need to understand the consequences of it. Unfortunately the poorest in the world know the consequences because they are now living with them. We see it but because we are not living it the people are not willing to accept the actions required from the politicians who propose them.

It is at least five or six years since I was a member of the foreign affairs committee and it struck me that during the same week, the Vatican and the Pentagon made climate change the number one issue facing the planet. We had organisations as diverse as these stating this was the big issue but we are still speaking about it and it is getting worse, not better. The Vatican has issued many statements since. The Pentagon has stated climate change is a bigger threat than global terrorism or anything else the planet faces in terms of security. It is not anything to do with terrorist organisations or any possible attack on humanity from a war of any description. This is because climate change is causing all sorts of ongoing effects in terms of food security, mass emigration and mass migration. This is the challenge we face.

In this decade we have eight years but every minute counts. When citizens come here to tell politicians what we need to do collectively we will see movement. Everybody can make a difference, as Greta Thunberg has shown us. People in this Chamber over the past 100 years have made a difference to policies we thought were intractable and would never change. They will change but we do not have the luxury of time. Every minute counts. I thank the witnesses, the Chair and committee members for coming to the Seanad Chamber. They are most welcome to Seanad Éireann. We are delighted to open it up to an important topic such as this.