David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to contribute to the debate on the Bill. For many decades, we in Ireland turned our back to the sea. I come from a coastal community, where we have Cork Harbour, the second largest natural harbour in the world, Cobh Harbour, which is steeped in history, Ballycotton Harbour and Youghal Harbour, where the film "Moby Dick" was made not that long ago. The coastline along that area is maritime and it is inhabited by fisherfolk, which is a dwindling community, one that needs our support.

For many generations, we have treated the sea as a dumping ground. It was fantastic to be in the presence of the Taoiseach recently when he opened the waste water treatment plant pumping station in Cobh dockyard, where up to quite recently 44,000 Wheelie bins of raw sewage per day were being dumped into Cork Harbour. That has stopped. We have done something similar in Youghal and Carrigtwohill, but there is a lot more to be done across the country to treat effluent and to stop the sea being treated as a dumping ground. I am concerned too about the plastics, including microplastics, that our finding their way into the sea and out into the ocean. We have an awful lot more to do in that regard.

It would be remiss of me when talking about the sea and the potential of the sea not to say that we must the best we can to safeguard the America's Cup. It would be a shame if we lost it. Generations into the future will not forgive us if we let it go. I call on the Government to do what it can. I know we are discussing an infrastructure Bill but infrastructure will need to be developed to make this happen. Plans already in place will have to be brought forward. It would be a fantastic event for the country if we could get it. We should do all we can to bring it here.

Mention has been made by colleagues of green hydrogen. I am not sure if the Ceann Comhairle is aware of it but there are plans to erect large wind turbines off the coast of Cork. This is known as floating wind energy. It is very exciting. I often wondered how it could be possible to have a floating turbine and whether the first storm would knock it over, but technology has advanced so much they are floating, tethered to the bottom. They are enormous. For many years, people have objected to wind turbines on land and they have become a bit toxic and they do not want to look at them. People will not be able to see the floating wind turbines because they are out at sea, but they will have an impact when out at sea, in particular on the marine environment. That is why this Bill is so important. We need to plan these things carefully. A company in Cork called Simply Blue Energy Limited has fantastic plans to do this. The plan is to pump the electricity onshore and to use that to create green hydrogen by splitting the water into hydrogen and oxygen and using that hydrogen to generate electricity to power our trucks, ships, aeroplanes and to pump it into the gas grid. We have one of the most modern gas grids in the world. This has to be planned properly. It also needs to be fast-tracked and supported as best we can. It is hugely exciting. The only emissions from this when the hydrogen is burned is heat, energy and water. It is really good. It is the future for us all.

4 o’clock

Talking about the future and about infrastructure brings me to another point. Quite often we in this House plan in election cycles. We plan from one election to the next. Five years is the maximum, then everything stops and we start again. Recently, I was in the company of a group of people who wanted to honour a man called Edward Bransfield, who discovered Antarctica on 30 January 1820. At the moment the ice sheets of Antarctica are melting at a ferocious rate. The ice sheets in Greenland are melting at a ferocious rate. The glaciers are melting at a ferocious rate. While we were in recess, some reports came out which were staggering. These reports suggest many towns I represent such as Midleton, Cobh and Youghal will be underwater in the next 30 years. They also suggest much of Dublin will be underwater due to rising sea levels. I have done a fair bit of reading on this and it seems this particular issue is unstoppable. The sea has warmed, the ice is melting and this is irreversible. What we should do now is plan ahead to see what we can do to safeguard our towns, cities and people from rising sea levels. There is no point in waiting until the water is coming under our door. That is too late. Maps produced by the EPA and OPW are pretty scary. All the low-lying areas are at risk around our coastline. However, we are not as bad as some parts of Europe. I have seen some suggestions for infrastructure that must be put in place, and which can be, to safeguard against and prevent the damage and the worst outcomes that can happen. I have seen some reports that suggest 100,000 addresses in Ireland could be at risk by 2050, which is not far away. If we are to safeguard these addresses and these people, homes, businesses and infrastructure, we must start planning now. The Minister of State is probably well-seized of this. We must take action. This is something that is coming and from what I have read, and I have read a lot on it from people who have studied it a lot, it cannot be stopped. It is going to happen. We can throw our hands in the air and say this is or more of this or more of that but I have read the science and I am quite concerned about it. Thus I would suggest that when we are talking about this Bill, we ensure we get our act together regarding rising sea levels. It is hugely important.

With respect to the other issue of global warming, we are aware, and it has been said again and again that the agricultural sector produces much methane from the dairy herd. There is much interesting research going on, which suggests methane could be reduced by feeding a very small amount of a certain form of seaweed to cattle. That seaweed could and should be harvested in the marine environment and this is something we should perhaps consider as well. We must produce food but it should be clean food and green food and the answer is in the blue sea.

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