Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important Bill for our country. We have seen the result of climate change in every county and, globally, in the displacement of millions of people from the southern hemisphere. My county of Kerry has been affected by numerous weather events in recent years, including flooding. The Ring of Kerry has seen bad flooding on high mountain passes and White Strand beach in Cahersiveen was under water in February this year. Kenmare has had a number of very bad flooding incidents in the past number of years. In the north of the county, west of Tralee, Ballyroe, Barrow and Ardfert have been hit, along with Fossa, Faha and Caher. More and more extreme weather events will continue to affect the county, which could be said both to suffer and benefit from a high degree of peripherality and its proximity to the Atlantic and other waterways and lakes.

Reference was made in the House this week and last to the fire in Killarney National Park. An issue that has not been mentioned is the response rate. We need a committee in place that can respond as quickly as possible when there is a severe weather alert for anywhere in the country. The 48 hours or so it took to get a second helicopter down to Killarney was not acceptable. Another factor is that the rhododendron problem has not been dealt with for years. Now is the time to address that issue once and for all. A 15-year plan should be put in place to eliminate rhododendron from the national park and beyond, over the Caha Pass into County Cork. Unless we take action, ordinary communities are going to suffer. Everyone must play their part and be seen to do so.

This Bill does not rule out measures such as a carbon tax, which we oppose, and which does little to tackle the big polluters. Kerry is a coastal county so industries such as fishing and tourism will be displaced first, and individual and unequal measures will fuel scepticism and resistance around climate change. Fairness and social justice must be the priority and the most vulnerable must not bear the cost with additional charges on their solid fuel. Anyone who canvasses in poorer areas will see the reliance there and poorer people should not be punished more than anybody else or disproportionately. Clear targets must be put in place. The recent results-based environment-agri pilot project, REAP, for example, could be more ambitious and the farmers are willing to engage in schemes such as the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, but more engagement is necessary and unfortunately the scheme that is in place has been criticised by farmers' organisations. The Government must work with them. There needs to be more ambition in the Bill as aspirations without the backing to achieve them lead to unnecessary conflict.

As has been stated, the Shannon LNG terminal is not mentioned in the Bill but a political football has been building up around it.

We cannot ignore climate change’s impact on the environment and biodiversity more generally in County Kerry. I was a little confused to hear the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, on national radio last week speaking about the planting of forestry along waterways and contributing to water quality. A wise man recently told me that there was a type of fish, the cabhlach dubh, the sea trout, which is white when it comes in from the sea but used to make its way as far as the parish of Brosna, which is nearly in County Limerick, and up at Carroll’s Cross. That has been decimated by over-forestation. There is a difference between a plantation and forestry. We must have more emphasis on forestry and not on plantations.

We also see the worldwide effect of climate change and there will continue to be mass movement of people as much of the world becomes uninhabitable. I look forward to the rest of the debate and hearing the contributions of the other speakers.

See this speech in context