Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I say to the Minister that she needs to reconsider this. On the Government's recent proposal on the Phoenix Park, which is where I started, because as a child I largely grew up in the park, it is probably bigger than most farms in Ireland. I lived in an area that had no gardens but it was right beside the Phoenix Park and that was our natural playground. The Government commissioned a review on the future uses of the Phoenix Park.

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It has acknowledged that the 200-page review cost approximately €400,000. We want the Phoenix Park, Dublin's green lung, to remain available as a major park for the people of Dublin and the citizens of Ireland. We resent the idea presented in the report that there should be a development of retail in the park. There are small artisan-type cafes there with local food producers which already provide for people's needs. There is a really successful bike scheme in the park, run by a local provider. Hundreds of young people, many of them visitors to Dublin, cycle through the park and really enjoy it. The Minister's plans include more retail and the provision of a visitor experience for people from cruise ships. I ask her to be careful not to destroy the thing that attracts the visitors from home and abroad in the first place. She should err on the side of caution and consultation. The report was launched just after St. Patrick's Day, and we were given two weeks to reply to it; it ran to 200 pages. I raised the matter with the Taoiseach and the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW. I am happy to say that just as the local elections were about to begin, the Taoiseach announced that the review period would be extended until the end of this week, 31 May. That is welcome. I made a modest proposal that the review would be made available in every public library in Dublin. It would make sense to make it available in every library in Ireland, because the park is such a national treasure. That was not done, which represents a failure of imagination. If the Minister wants to save biodiversity, the Government probably needs to imagine what is necessary to do to preserve the variety of species of flora and fauna. Unfortunately Ireland, like many other countries, is losing those species at a rapid rate. That applies in towns and in the countryside.

I realise that when somebody like me, coming from Dublin, dares to stand up and speak, the gentlemen opposite find it really difficult. I respect that they probably love the country as much as I do and they should be honourable in acknowledging this.

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