Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to have an opportunity to speak on this. I welcome the citizens' assemblies on these two very important topics. It is one of the innovations that Ireland has successfully introduced into policymaking. I do not need to remind the House of its path-breaking role in helping constitutional change to occur in this country and introducing climate legislation that puts us very much to the forefront in how we have changed legislation to create a framework for addressing the climate. I hope we do the same in the context of gender equality.

Biodiversity is a very important subject. One of the fears I have, and the citizens' assembly will have to look at this, is that there is a danger in the way we segment climate, waste and biodiversity as if they are different topics that need different solutions, different plans and different strategies. The reality is that the supply chain of our lives is what has caused all of these three crises. They are interlocking crises. We need to see them in an integrated way rather than in a piecemeal way. We get insights and begin to see where the trade-offs arise if we avoid siloing these three crises into separate arenas.

The circular economy is really about how to remove from the supply chain of our lives all of the environmental damage we do, whether in the extraction of materials, the generation of pollutants into the atmosphere, emissions that affect our climate, creating waste we discard and throwing away valuable materials that are irreplaceable. These things need to be seen in an integrated way. It is only then we will protect our atmosphere, natural environment, waterways, climate and the scarce resources we have the fortune to have and minimise waste. As a House, when we hand over the issue we ought to emphasise that it should be seen in an integrated way.

I welcome the evaluation of what is best governance for Dublin. It is very timely. Over the years we have struggled in Dublin with how to strike a balance between the need for local government to be closer to the people and the coherence needed for a capital city to work effectively. In my lifetime I have seen it move from having two councils to four councils. There is far greater representation but in this process we have lost some of that coherence. A capital city needs interconnected parts. It needs to be thinking in a more coherent way about big issues in its economic, social and cultural future and in its infrastructural needs. To some degree we are falling between stools. Often our dispersed authorities in Dublin do not have the capacity to deliver some of the bigger infrastructural asks imposed upon them, whether it be with regard to housing, climate or the other demands we place upon them. It is timely to see how we can strike a balance with having important local representation, which we all recognise is essential. Local government has to be close to its communities. It has to be responsive. People have to feel part of it. At the same time, they have this bigger role.

One of the much undervalued elements of political representation in Ireland is holding bodies to account. In Dublin we have not effectively held to account through our local authorities bodies such as Dublin Port, Dublin Bus or the Dublin elements of the health services. Part of the role of local political representation is to run things that are appropriate to it and hold to account bigger bodies that have a wider mandate. They should ensure there is the holding toes to the fire that political bodies can do very effectively.

An all-powerful elected mayor may not be the answer for Dublin. We may need something a bit more like the governance we have at national level, with people who are elected politically and chosen from within authorities but have combined governance. This would be much like our Ministers, with people responsible for different elements of managing the affairs of a big city such as what Dublin has become. I admit this is a prejudice because it is my view of the world. The success of our democratic institutions has shown that having individual political executives embedded in a wider political family brings strength to it. I am grateful for the opportunity to address this very important topic. I wish the Minister of State well in the work he is taking on.

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