Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure where his 10,000 social houses are but there is no substantial number in Galway. The targets for acquisition and social housing have been reached in Galway because they was set so low. At something more than 100 units, one would have to reach it. Meanwhile, the Government is exceeding its targets for the housing assistance payment, HAP. It is putting people into HAP tenancies and rewarding local authorities for exceeding their targets, which is not sustainable. There is a major housing crisis and a task force is in place, but there is no real progress. The only progress we are making is in building private houses alongside public houses on public land. That approach is totally wrong and I will never agree with it.

The Minister of State took exception to Deputy Boyd Barrett's language.

I am in agreement with him regarding cynicism. I welcome the opportunity to talk about transition statements on climate change regarding local authorities, but we will have to put a little perspective on it that might explain my cynicism. We had the Rio de Janeiro conference 28 years ago in 1992, then we had the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, then we had the Paris Agreement, which set binding targets, then we had at least five Bills in Ireland in five years, and I think we are getting another one. I will not read them all out. Our emissions rate has gone up and we have failed to reach our targets. The Minister of State should forgive my cynicism. When I look at local authorities, in particular in Galway, I note there is no biodiversity officer. Could he explain why Galway does not have a biodiversity officer? We finally got a biodiversity action plan. It has the year 2014 in the title but I do not think it was passed in 2014. The plan goes to 2024. There are supposed to be annual reports and a mid-term review but I cannot find any of them. Perhaps I am wrong. I will be the first to come in and say "Sorry" if I am but I cannot see them. We need to make language mean something. We have all these action plans and we are, supposedly, trying to comply with our obligations under various international conventions and national legislation and we are utterly failing.

I repeatedly said to the Minister of State that I did not come in here to be negative. I am a very practical, pragmatic woman. I see a housing crisis and I see a solution, and the State must be an integral part of that, build public housing on public land and send a message to the market that it is serious about sorting out the crisis.

I cannot read any more climate change plans. The latest one was the biodiversity plan from the intergovernmental panel and it was absolutely frightening. I referred to the most recent report in a speech I made in the Dáil a year and a month ago. I stated then:

The most recent report by Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform leaves little room for doubt ... The report finds that approximately 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, more than ever before in human history.

I tried to use my time efficiently. There are so many issues I could refer to, but we know that this is the biggest threat facing us and we need to take positive and serious action. We declared an emergency. Members might recall how we declared it. The debate was on a report from the all-party committee on climate action and the Government motion was to note it. Fianna Fáil and various other parties tabled amendments to the motion and it was on the basis of an amendment that the climate emergency was declared. The Minister who was present and my Galway West constituency colleague, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, were taken completely by surprise that the motion passed. That is how serious the Government was regarding the issue. It took the children on our streets to make us do something.

I can only zone in on one or two things in my remaining time and tonight I have chosen to zone in on biodiversity in Galway, which is a beautiful city. We have the River Corrib and Galway Bay. The area is full of streams and rivers. We have a biodiversity action plan but nobody to implement it. How serious is that? Is the Minister of State or the Department aware of that? What action has it taken? There is an funding emergency for local authorities. All of these plans are worth nothing if they do not have resources and money. What is the Minister of State doing about that in relation to the Covid crisis and what has happened with rates?

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