Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am not misleading the House.

I have five Deputies answer. Maybe I was not clear to Deputies Whitmore and Naughten. I was not saying "No" to all the amendments, in the sense that specifically, there is sense behind amendment No. 11 and Deputy Whitmore's amendment No. 16. I see merit in what has been suggested there. What I intend to do is to come back in the drafting of the climate action Bill to see if we can incorporate it and amend, and that way we would still have access to that additional €10 million for climate action and could use it on some of the measures that the Deputies have suggested, which would be a real benefit, I hope, to what the Deputies are intending to do.

With regard to Deputy O'Rourke and the amendment in the Seanad, the Deputy is absolutely right that we must be careful here that this is not a political fund in the sense it has to go for climate action. A competitive tendering fund is the approach in order that people would bid in and across the different areas, so that there are various people who could apply for it. There is a particular category that we may wish to support, particularly supporting the action that Bord na Móna, for example, might take in terms of rehabilitation bogs and lands for which it has responsibility. In those cases, it would be less competitive, in the sense that Bord na Móna is the single entity with that responsibility.

The Attorney General recommended a slight variation - a technical amendment - which is what we are putting forward in the Seanad tomorrow to recognise that that is slightly different and to copper-fasten and absolutely nail down and protect it to make sure it is subject to no legal challenge. That slight variation, in terms of the funding to support Bord na Móna, would need a variation in the Bill. Under the rules for technical amendments one needs a certain period of time to be able to put it forward, and putting it forward in the Seanad enables us to do that. Then we will return to the Dáil and if the Dáil agrees it, the Bill is passed. I would say I have found in the experience of legislating that the Seanad has that critical role and allows us to have a second House in be able to amend in that way. That is why I am happy to do it. I hope Sinn Féin in the Seanad will be able to support it tomorrow. I look forward to discussing with Senator Boylan the reason for that. Hopefully, similarly, Deputies will support it when it comes back here.

With regard to Deputy Mattie McGrath, and, indeed, Deputy Fitzmaurice and others, and this relates to what Deputy Naughten is saying about grassland management if I could maybe come back to that, the Deputy is absolutely right that there is real potential for us in how we manage our grasslands to help tackle climate change. There are certain areas, uplands, let us say, peaty boglands, where grazing cattle and sheep provide climate benefits because in the absence of the cattle grazing, one would see natural birch vegetation coming back up which would drain the peaty soils which would release carbon. There is no one here wagging fingers or telling any farmer what he is doing is wrong and what another is doing is right.

Farmers, particularly those working more marginal lands in the north and west, are some of the best and most important people with regard to protecting and looking after nature. We need to stop shaming them as part of the climate story. That shaming is not coming from here. If it is, I hope Deputies will pull me up on it because it is not the true story.

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