Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the annual transition statements on climate action today. Since I represent the maritime county of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, it is an issue close to my heart. The marine sector is a vital part of Ireland's economy and of our culture as an island nation. Protecting and maintaining the quality of our oceans is a pressing concern for the long-term health of this State.

Harvested from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, Irish seafood products are some of the most outstanding in the world but if we are to maintain this distinction, we must do more to protect our seas. In my constituency, Dún Laoghaire, community activists such as Margaret Brown and young environmentalist Flossie Donnelly have done tremendous work leading volunteers and cleaning regularly the coastline in the area. I hope the Minister will join me in commending those individuals on the work they have done. The council equally supports their role, as is evident from its having secured recently blue flag status for Seapoint. Seapoint is a special protected area, by EU designation, for biodiversity purposes. It is disappointing, however, that Killiney remains without a blue flag. Just recently, we heard that Merrion Strand in Dublin failed to meet EU standards for the fifth year in a row. It is simply not good enough.

Nationally, we need greater emphasis on protecting our marine biosphere. We have a moral and economic obligation to protect and enhance the immense natural resources of our waters for future generations. Ireland has specific legally binding EU obligations in regard to achieving good environmental standards in our seas. I note the Minister did not mention this in his remarks. The international targets set for Ireland are to have 10% of our waters protected by the end of this year and 30% by the end of 2030. Currently, just 2% of Irish waters are protected. This is the second lowest percentage in the European Union. The next Government must remedy this.

I support the actions to strengthen Ireland's role in protecting natural oceanic resources for future generations. Would the Minister agree that a first step in protecting the ecosystems would be to introduce an oceans Act to safeguard Ireland's seas and oceans with a protected marine area?

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