Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

When I was growing up in rural Ireland as a young boy, I do not think I ever heard the words biodiversity or climate change. Times have changed and it saddens me when I hear that animals and plants are disappearing faster than at any other time in human history. It is happening in Ireland too. A biodiversity report published earlier this month gave a grim account of the significant dangers facing plants and animals across the globe. The report shows that species loss on the planet is accelerating at a rate often tens or thousands of times faster than in the past. A decline in biodiversity on the planet is bad, not only due to the loss of certain animals and plant species but also because of the danger that it poses to human survival. Plants and animals are the building blocks on which human life depends. Sadly, Ireland is not immune from the losses to plant and animal life that are occurring across the planet. Of the 3,000 or so plant and animal species in Ireland that are subject to a conservation assessment, approximately one quarter are facing extinction.

We have 1,200 plants in Ireland, and of those, 100 are threatened with extinction and 20 are critically endangered. It is not only our plants that are in danger but also several species of the country's wildlife are under strain. The curlew, which is the largest European wading bird, has declined in Ireland by 96% since the 1970s. More than a third of Ireland's 99 bee species are threatened with extinction. Those are scary statistics.

Ireland has one of the worst records for responding to climate change in the EU and among developed nations. Ireland is certain to miss its 2020 targets for reducing harmful emissions, as set under the 2016 Paris Agreement. A tipping point has been reached and we now need to put climate change and biodiversity at the top of the agenda.

In the programme for Government the Government promised that it would invest in the better energy programme. It was stated in the programme that it would provide grants to 170,000 households, but we hear that the entire budget for 2019 will have been committed by the end of May for insulation grants, the retrofitting of homes and the warmer homes scheme. The Government must ensure the lack of funds will not affect the insulation grants and renewable energy grants for people who badly need such work on their homes. I urge the Government to examine the grants and increase them, given that, for example, the installation of a heat pump in a private house can cost between €5,000 and €10,000, yet the maximum grant is €3,700, which leaves a large amount for homeowners to pay. The grant available for cavity wall insulation is only €400, as is the grant for attic insulation. All the grants must be examined and increased. We must encourage people to insulate their homes and thus reduce their energy needs. Will the Government investigate the possibility of reducing or entirely removing VAT on material used to insulate houses? That would be a major incentive to people and would encourage them to insulate their homes to the maximum and thus reduce the use of fossil fuels.

With regard to electric cars, the Government stated in the programme for Government that it wants Ireland to become a leader in the take-up of electric vehicles, but talk is very cheap. If the VAT and VRT were reduced or entirely removed on all electric vehicles it could greatly increase their sales. We must also find ways to reduce the number of cars on the roads. Many of my constituents in west Cork have said to me that if there was a park-and-ride service available to them that connected with the city, they would definitely avail of the service. I already raised the matter with the Taoiseach in the Dáil and he promised he would get back to me, but I am still waiting for his response. Now that the elections are over he might have a little more time to study what needs to be done. I previously called for a park-and-ride system for west Cork. Buses from Skibbereen, Mizen, Sheep's Head, Bantry and the Beara Peninsula, Drimoleague and Dunmanway would feed into Clonakilty and there would be a park-and-ride system to take people from there into the city. We have no interconnecting transport service from west Cork to the rail system, and we have no rail system in west Cork, which means people are totally and utterly dependent on the car. Many families have told me they would not need a second car if some form of proper transport service was available. The Government is standing idly by and will not even put something in place that might resolve the situation. We need proper access from west Cork. We would not need to use cars if there was a service in place. If such a service was reasonably priced and wheelchair accessible it would have the potential to replace thousands of cars on the roads, especially at peak times.

There is no doubt that we need to make a positive shift in Ireland's attitudes to biodiversity loss and climate change. The Government must create incentives to encourage businesses and the general public, such as the incentives I have already mentioned. The Government could have pulled the plug on the outrageous scandal of the harvesting of kelp off Bantry Bay. As a case on the matter is before the courts, I will not interfere in it. I have spoken many times in the House about the damage it will cause to the environment and to the livelihood of inshore fishermen. Planning application after planning application has been submitted for fish farms in west Cork in recent months, in Union Hall, Castlehaven, Kinsale, Urhan and Bantry. Companies from France and all over the country are looking to set up fish farms off the west Cork coast. That will do untold damage to the environment and the underwater species. In every other country there is a planning system in place and strict planning laws that we do not apply; therefore, it is open season here; one can just apply anywhere one wants, and one will get it. I have asked the Minister to make sure that proper planning regulations are in place and that we can at least protect people's livelihood and the species we have. It is time to wake up. The people of the country spoke last week and they made it very clear that the Government is not doing its job correctly regarding the environment. As politicians, we must do everything in our power to make sure that it does so in the future.

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