Ms Anne Jones:

I thank the Cathaoirleach. It was a step into the unknown when I accepted an invitation to become part of the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. My invitation was initially one of 20,000, as Dr. Ní Shúilleabháin has said, sent to randomly selected households across the country and subsequently whittled down to 99. The subject of biodiversity is vast, urgent and challenging but it felt like something worth doing.

The term "deliberative democracy" was new. I had little, if any, sense of how it worked - how we, as ordinary citizens, could arrive at a point where we could make representative decisions in a relatively short period, absorb massive amounts of information and help shape future policy affecting the lives, livelihoods and the environment around us - but a finely-tuned secretariat supported by field experts and community and sectoral voices and a highly effective chair sustained us in the belief that if we worked together, if we stuck with the process at each and every session over each and every weekend, we could and would make a difference. Putting 99 people from different age groups and different backgrounds with different life experiences into a room, views varied hugely but it was for me democracy in action.

I grew up on the lower uplands of the Slieve Aughty mountains of east Clare. It was not prime land, but there was a pride in that land. Every inch of it was valued and if there was a field of rushes, it was drained and turned into grassland. The focus was on improving the land to maximise its efficiency and increase its return. To leave that field of rushes was a failure, not just in the eyes of the farming community but in the eyes of agricultural advisers and the State. Today, that field of rushes has a totally different value. It is hard to get our heads around this. We are challenged to understand it, to place trust in the scientific evidence that supports it and to change our ingrained mindsets.

Away from farming, a visit to Dublin Port as part of our assembly information gathering further highlighted for me what happens when mindsets change. A 680-acre site with a lot of concrete structures, shipping activity, tankers and storage silos is not conducive, one would think, to biodiversity protection or enhancement but, instead of ticking boxes just to comply with planning application requirements, the then chief executive officer, CEO, made the bold decision to change his and his company's way of thinking and become pro-active in developing a biodiversity plan. It included developing a walking-cycling route, a pontoon to protect the declining number of terns and working in partnership with BirdWatch Ireland to monitor land- and water-based animals.

I am aware of a company in my own county of Clare now taking a leaf from Dublin Port’s book. It acquired an old 30-acre manufacturing site, defunct for many years, and is undertaking a professional baseline biodiversity assessment of what is on site: the birds, animals, bats, plants and species. From there, it will make a plan to protect and enhance the biodiversity of that site, including the introduction of renewable energy resources, to ultimately reduce system costs and meet, as closely as possible, a zero-carbon footprint. Where there is a willingness, I am convinced it is possible to make a difference.

What I have learned from my involvement in the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss and what science and our own instincts tell us is: mitigating climate change is urgent; biodiversity has a huge role to play; individually, we are required to take responsibility and action; there is an equal imperative on industries, businesses, organisations and agencies to do likewise; and Government must fully commit to make the necessary policy and strategy changes while facilitating, supporting and funding priority actions.

It is a delicate tightrope walk, to balance the absolute urgency of meeting climate change targets while at the same time not biting the hands that feed us. New obligations require a fair and just transition, but it is a monumental challenge. As the 159 recommendations go before the committee, we trust that they contribute to the work that is ahead of committee members as legislators in the daunting task of preserving, protecting and enhancing biodiversity for the generations to come.