Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Our Lady's secondary school for girls in Castleblayney had a good conference two weeks ago on Brexit. The conference covered the environmental section of that as well. The Minister mentioned north Monaghan, an area in which the conservation of the curlew is being developed, and that programme is welcome. Based on the figures the Minister outlined, am I correct that the number of pairs has reduced rather than increased? She might confirm that for me.

In August 2019, the sixth report of the UN convention on biological diversity confirmed potential catastrophic species loss and the deterioration of important habitats was accelerating. Ireland has a legal obligation to conserve biological diversity. An Taisce described the report as a damning indictment of the state of biodiversity, with insufficient progress reported across most targets. Birdwatch Ireland and the Irish Wildlife Trust have echoed An Taisce in calling on the Government to move quickly to arrest a species extinction crisis in Ireland. One third of all Irish bee species could be extinct by 2030 and the Irish butterfly populations have declined by almost 12% over the past decade. Some 50% of Irish freshwater areas are polluted and as a result, there has been a decline in our most sensitive aquatic species such as salmon. More than 90% of protected habitats are classified as having unfavourable conservation status. What provision was made in budget 2020 to tackle these staggering figures?

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