Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----and he will do so in a constructive manner. His main aim is to improve the Bill if people come forward with workable improvements. The Bill in itself is a major advance on what we have had and is something that commends itself to the House. He is open to amendments, of course, given the detailed examination that has taken place. In the House, Members may come forward on that.

In relation to the climate data centre, I will have a look at that. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about that. I accept the extraordinarily valuable work that it does and the large database that it has.

I am very keen to work on similar initiatives to the all-island pollinator plan and a whole range of biodiversity projects on an all-island basis. I have made that clear to our colleagues on the Northern Ireland Executive in respect of developing joint approaches to the environment and the climate. We are looking, as part of the shared island unit, to the creation of a dialogue on an all-island approach to climate change and to the challenges that protecting the environment present to society, particularly in terms of protecting biodiversity on our island.

That is important.

The Government has moved quickly to try to deal with the crisis in organisations such as Dublin Zoo, Fota Wildlife Park and others. My Department has now decided to work with other Departments, the OPW, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, the Departments of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Environment, Climate and Communications, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and the Office of the Tánaiste to try to work out a more strategic approach to our zoos and a more sustainable system for them, in particular given the significant impact of Covid-19 on their operations.

Dublin Zoo could have up to 1 million visitors a year. That has not now happened principally because of Covid. Its revenue has been significantly undermined. We are very conscious of that. We wanted to intervene this week to make sure that we could deal with the current crisis. We are very committed to helping out on a medium-term basis.

On Deputy Boyd Barrett's point in respect of Donegal, there will be private development of wind projects. Not everything will be done by the State. The next big wave in respect of wind energy will be offshore wind. The marine development Bill is important because it opens up the opportunity to develop the economic potential of our seas for the betterment of our people. Wind energy is very important in terms of the climate change agenda.

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