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

The shared island unit within the Department of the Taoiseach is a prime example. One of the things we did with the shared island unit was to start engaging with environmental NGOs and others in the North, recognising that the shared island is a shared environment. Pollution and issues like climate change recognise no borders. Brexit gives rise to concerns that we could end up with two different standards of environmental protection, including habitats protection, that could drive a further wedge and create a new border which would be terribly damaging. We have been using that mechanism as a means to try to get an all-island approach to how we look after the environment. I cite the work we are doing today on transport. I have been working directly with Nicola Mallon on an all-island strategic rail review, investigating how we might run a rail line to Letterkenny from Derry, for example.

Yesterday I attended a European conference in Ostend on a shared approach to offshore wind energy. I could go on all day outlining examples of how we work in that way. That is the work that delivers best on our aspirations.

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