Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Just before we adjourned, the Minister stated, regarding the decline of the bird population by 28% reported by BirdWatch Ireland, that the EU placed an emphasis on the protection of Ireland's birds. However, she went on to state that the latest report given to the EU was in 2013. BirdWatch Ireland's report is very recent. Obviously, the report from five years ago does not tally with the evidence coming from BirdWatch Ireland.

I refer to the issue of the bees. The Minister did not deal with that. There is an interesting report in The Irish Timestoday by Fitzpatrick and Murray, who have published their findings. In 2006, they indicated, having done a careful study of the bee population, which is difficult, that half of all the species in Ireland were in decline. They sum it up in one sentence today, that a third of all bee species in Ireland will be extinct by 2030. They say that some bees are declining so rapidly that we are facing a silent spring of loss. These are our great unpaid pollinators. If they go missing, then what? The Minister said that is largely due to pesticides. Pesticides play a role but this study also shows that the cutting and abandonment of hedgerows and the flowers that grow in them also play a major role. I reiterate those arguments. To respond to the Deputies who spoke here about farmers and how we regard farmers, I think they have an attitude that we are somehow just city slickers who dismiss the concerns of farmers. Not at all. I mention the Burren and the exercise undertaken there because they were forced to listen to the farmers and do the sort of things that the farmers required. It is working. We need to revert to looking at a different attitude to nature and the environment and to approach the farming community with a clear agenda to enlist them as guardians and protectors of our wildlife, and to ensure that they are adequately incentivised and rewarded for guarding and protecting our wildlife. This Bill will do quite the opposite. We need to consider what is at risk here.

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