Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. His presence shows the absolute necessity of having rapid testing facilities. That is something we need to keep working on from the point of view of ensuring we have the capacity to keep this show on the road. It is as simple as that.

I accept what several speakers have said in respect of floods, fires and winds. We need not look as far away as California. We have all experienced these in recent times so the reality of climate change is with us. This pandemic has shown up several weaknesses in this society, whether they relate to housing, health or workers' rights. Yet, there are opportunities. I agree with the speakers who have spoken about the absolute necessity of any recovery being a green recovery. Yet, it will not matter unless we can keep the show on the road. I wish to point to the fact that this does not operate in a silo on its own as regards climate change. We need to ensure imaginative thinking at an economic level and Marshall Plan-type imagination in respect of the stabilisation funding, future funding and the stimulus that will be required. Without the moneys and without keeping society and our economy on the road, we will not be able to operate the particular moves that are needed to ensure we have not only climate justice but climate change as well.

I wish to add my voice to the comments of some of my colleagues in respect of carbon shaming. It is a fact. Carbon taxes and so on are only operable in a situation where people have alternatives. Otherwise, we are simply impoverishing people who are already poor. The same goes for some of the initiatives relating to waste management and ending two-for-one, whether in respect of clothing or food. We need to be careful that we do not carry out actions that possibly have good intent but that will impact on those who can least afford it.

I hope the Minister will be in contact with other Ministers, whether in respect of the Office of Public Works or agriculture. Obviously, we have to deal with the reality that is brought on in some cases by instances where we have failed to manage water systems and where we are dealing with added rains due to climate change. We need to ensure that the catchment flood risk assessment and management project is put in place. This will ensure that we can reduce the impact of flooding on the lives of people who are in areas that are exposed. As time goes on there will be more and more of such people.

We had forest fires in the Cooley Mountains over the summer. While some good work was done by local firefighters in combination with the Air Corps and a great many volunteers, we really need afforestation measures in place. State land needs to be looked at. We also need to ensure that we have management of forests. I would like to think that the Minister and his Department are in contact with the relevant people in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Coillte to ensure this happens.

6 o’clock

The Minister is also responsible for the national broadband scheme. When we talk about people working from home being, in some cases, a positive outworking of the current system in which we operate in that it reduces the number of people having to travel very long distances and can relieve some of the difficulties in areas like Dublin, we need to ensure that this is facilitated in as many areas as possible. We also need to examine bespoke solutions in certain areas because there are technical solutions that will make up for some of the decisions made previously that may be able to circumvent some of those difficulties. I would like to think the Minister will keep an open mind in that regard.

We need to look at the difficulty in respect of one-off housing. There is a belief that village developments are beneficial and can make more sense than individual one-off housing but those sort of opportunities do not exist in a great many rural areas. I refer to areas where there is not any village development and so on. We need to facilitate people living in rural areas.

People have spoken about regeneration and retrofitting. All I would say about retrofitting is that we need to look at council stock. Some of the council stock in Dundalk in Louth County Council is very old and in need of major works. The moneys are not available for the regular works so we need to ensure that we have a cover-all, multi-agency approach to all of this area.

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