Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy McLoughlin for getting this Bill through the Dáil. I also commend the Minister, Deputy Naughten, the Minister of State, Deputy Kyne, and their officials for assisting in its passage.

One of the biggest environmental defects in the State is the problems we have had over recent decades in the loss of pristine water quality. We need to reconnect with our land and nature. We need to start by getting our water back to pristine condition. We have a huge opportunity and advantage in the availability of water, but we need to look after it. That is what we are doing with this Bill. It is hugely significant at a local level and for the whole country. It is also significant internationally. There is an international environmental campaign against fracking and the use of fossil fuels. Today is a victory for them. At a time when President Trump is considering turning his country into a rogue state - an illegal state in my opinion - with respect to the crimes against the future of humanity of this planet, it is important that we as a country stand up for action on climate change and that is what we are doing here today.

More than anything else, this is a victory for community groups in Leitrim. We have a responsibility to work with them to show there is another way of developing counties in Ireland. These may be the counties that are not the centre of economic development, as is happening in Dublin. We need to develop an alternative economy and lift rural Ireland. We need to bring people back there rather than having them return to move to Dublin. That is what we start here today; the rejuvenation and reinvigorating of counties such as Leitrim and Roscommon, not using fossil fuels but by using our wit and other bountiful resources we have. We start by looking after our water. We start by looking after our air. That is what we are voting for in passing the Bill.

See this speech in context