Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

Thank you Minister. It is important to have the table before responding, however, I will not be able to analyse it very well now. Climate change has dropped down the agenda. The Green Party has responded and its members do not talk about climate change as much as they used to. They have become more low key. I do not lay blame for that because other priorities have come to the fore. People are losing their jobs. The picture has changed. Our emissions will reduce as a consequence.

My understanding of the Green Party before it entered Government is that it focused on the protection of the environment. It is only in recent years that it has focused on the issue of climate change. I believe the focus should be on the environment. If one looks after the environment, one will simultaneously do the things one needs to do about climate change. Irish people have always wanted to protect their environment. I recall when I was young, clothes were passed on from cousins, people collected water in a barrel in the garden, milk bottles were returned. People were always environmentally conscious in Ireland. A great many of the climate change lobby groups act as if everybody else is ignorant of the issues to do with climate change and the environment and that people need to be dragged kicking and screaming to do their bit for the environment. That is not the case. Irish people have been always conscious of the need to do things to protect the environment and to save energy. Sight of that may have been lost in our Celtic tiger years but it is very much present now. Some years ago in an OECD study of 15 year olds in 30 countries, Irish students came top for environmental awareness. That awareness is in the Irish psychology and in our way of looking at things as voters, citizens and members of communities.

Our focus should be on the environment. Much of the climate change debate has been remote and concerned with targets and carbon credits. Its language is extremely remote and does not engage people. We need to go back to protecting our environment, making our quality of life better and promoting communities, social solidarity and equality.

If protecting the environment and achieving climate change targets are linked, why is the Minister standing over a 48% cutback in the budget of the Heritage Council? I will raise this matter on the Adjournment of the House today. The Heritage Council looks after our heritage and environment and facilitates work in local communities to protect our environment and increase environmental awareness in local communities. Similarly, the budget for the National Parks and Wildlife Service has been cut by, I think, 56%. The work of the NPWS is extremely important in relation to climate change. Its responsibilities include the protection of habitats and wetlands. Ireland has signed up to the EU ecological network, Natura 2000. Its purpose is to protect our biodiversity and make our habitats more resilient to the impacts of climate change. If the NPWS budget is cut, how will it do that work? Protecting the budget of the NPWS must be a key Green Party policy. Apart from our national considerations we have responsibilities in terms of EU directives.

We need to get back to being concerned about the environment. That is the key issue.

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