Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity for this debate on this important and timely issue. Marie Donnelly appeared before the climate committee yesterday and she re-emphasised the importance of renewable energy in terms of our ability to meet our target. One of the issues she addressed was the speed at which that needs to be implemented because many things rely on renewable energy, such as EV targets, transport targets and the retrofitting of many homes. It is a critical part of our path to zero carbon and the speed of implementation is very important. Other Members spoke about the barriers to that at the moment.

It is disappointing that biodiversity has played such a small part in the debate so far. Ireland is actually one of the largest countries in Europe in that an area the equivalent of ten times its land mass is under the sea. We run the risk of seeing this area purely as an economic resource. The debate so far indicates that this is how it is viewed. It is viewed as something out of which we should squeeze as much economic benefit as possible, not as a living entity in its own right — a very complex system with many interconnected components that play an enormous part in regulating our climate.

Our oceans are very important, more important than any renewable energy targets will ever be. They are critical to the regulation of the climate. That is not coming across in the debate. We have heard words such as "resources", "economic opportunity", "revenue", "infrastructure", "assets", "development", "industry" and "business opportunity". Even when the Minister spoke about the Shannon Estuary task force, he spoke about transport and regional development. Estuaries are incredibly important from a biodiversity perspective. It is disappointing that no reference was made to this. The environmental sector needs to be represented on the task force.

The Minister did mention the word "biodiversity" but it was not in the written speech that he provided to us; it was an add-on. Biodiversity must not be an add-on in this debate. Many of us talk about how we have managed much of the infrastructure on the island and how much of it has been developer led over the years and under successive Governments. That has not benefited our communities and country very much. We run the risk of allowing our oceans to be developer led also. We need to be cognisant of that and make sure it does not happen.

Where planning in this area is concerned, we have put the cart before the horse. While the Minister talks about marine area consents, which everyone wants as early as possible given the importance of speeding up the process, there is no indication as to what areas need to be protected, why they need to be protected and the benefits of protecting them. There will essentially be no protections, which is worrying.

Under the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, member states should protect at least 30% of the EU's land and marine areas, and at least 10% of land and marine areas should be subject to particularly strict protection. I am aware that this is an EU-wide target and that the Government has not agreed to an Ireland-specific target of protecting 30% of land areas, but the programme for Government commits to realising our outstanding marine space target of 10% and aiming for 30% of marine protected areas by 2030. How can we know what marine spaces are to be protected if the assessment is not done before we start granting consents? There is no point in protecting areas that do not need protection. Protections need to be ecologically coherent. They need to make a difference for the species and ecology we are trying to protect. It is not just a case of saying to the developers that they should find the spots that suit them best and that we will apply the environmental criteria to the rest of the areas. That seems to be the approach that is being taken.

We have not really acknowledged the co-benefits. If this can be done properly, we can have a very successful wind industry. We need a very successful one to meet our targets. I am realistic about that. That is where we need to be going but our approach needs to be balanced with environmental considerations. That is possible. When the two approaches work together, the environment can benefit from the establishment of wind farms. In this regard, there are discussions taking place. In Wicklow, there is a project called the Native Oyster Reef Restoration Ireland, NORRI, project. It is a native oyster restoration project. There is great potential in this regard because, where native oysters grow, there are kelp beds with considerable carbon storage potential. The potential can be realised in conjunction with wind farm development. The project in question is supported by Wicklow County Council but it is also getting support from those behind the wind farms that will be off the Wicklow coast. That is the kind of vision we are considering. It is interesting.

The BT Young Scientist & Technology Exhibitionis coming up in January. There are two students from St. Mary's College in Arklow working on a seaweed carbon capture project. If the Minister is visiting or looking into such projects, he should make note of this one in particular. Ciara and Lauren from St. Mary's are running it. It is really interesting. It demonstrates interest at local level in these kinds of projects. It also demonstrates the importance of what is known as blue carbon. We need to be considering these areas to determine how we can innovate in them, provide funding and make progress. We must determine how we can proceed in addition to having the wind farms we need to meet our targets.

I am aware that there has been a lot of debate on the Maritime Area Planning Bill, in respect of which my colleague Deputy Cian O'Callaghan tabled a significant number of amendments. Since the Bill has passed through the House, we need to put in place interim measures that will protect the environment. They need to be transparent and robust. We cannot afford to look back in several years and say we got it wrong. Many of our onshore wind farms were put in the wrong place. They were put in peatland areas and have caused enormous damage from landscape and carbon release perspectives. We need wind farms but we need them in the right place, and we need them to be dealt with properly. Many good suggestions were made in the debate on the Maritime Area Planning Bill. I ask the Minister to reconsider them because it is important that we get it right now. The infrastructure is being put in place now. There is a risk that if this is not done properly, it will delay us in meeting our objective for wind farms. We could end up with appeals and judicial reviews if the environment is not considered fully in their development. I ask the Minister to consider this as part of the entire package.

See this speech in context