John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the first move today in establishing the two citizens' assemblies, one on the loss of biodiversity and the other on a directly elected mayor for Dublin. I will focus first, if I may, on the citizens' assembly on the loss of biodiversity. Citizens' assemblies have served the country very well. That does not mean we cannot develop hybrid versions of them or continue to look at them to see how they can continue to serve us well. They were certainly ahead of politicians, or maybe in a better place to take more courageous and clear-cut decisions than were politicians, and read the mood of the nation when it came to three previous citizens' assemblies on climate action, marriage equality and termination of pregnancy. That then enabled politicians to consider they broadly had a cross-section of the will of the people and to legislate accordingly.

As for biodiversity, I wish to talk about my constituency and how far ahead of politicians the public are already on actions on the ground regarding biodiversity. When I think of my constituency, I think of groups such as Ballyboden Tidy Towns and Dodder Action, individuals such as John Kiberd, in Tallaght, the Stepping Stone Forests initiative and Tallaght Community Council. I was fortunate to join the two latter groups recently when they were planting new forests in Killinarden Community School and in Old Bawn Community School. The number of students who were involved in that and the volunteers from groups such as Dodder Action were truly inspiring to witness. I refer to the enthusiasm, the money invested by sponsors, the general goodwill, the openness to the issue of biodiversity and the understanding that it is a crucial and critical theme in our modern days. I think of South Dublin County Council, my local authority, and the work it is doing on wildflower planting in parks such as Dodder Valley Park and Tymon Park and on pollinating roundabouts. I think of a very recent initiative on behalf of residents in Woodstown Village, in Knocklyon. There is a pollinator trail in Woodstown Village, adjacent to the M50 motorway. As recently as last week, an orchard was planted along the line between that estate and the M50.

It was truly inspiring.

To Deputy Berry's point, the number of under-18s involved in this initiative was inspiring and outstanding. I share his view that stakeholder contribution and input to this citizen's assembly needs to be broadened. The under-18s who have, as previous speakers said, most to fear from climate catastrophe and are most alert and aware of what can be done can truly inspire us. We saw that when we had a parliament of young people in the previous Dáil and the challenges they put up to Government. I agree their voice must be heard. I also think of all the schools and residents associations doing Trojan work, as is evidenced in my constituency. They lead the way in this.

Rather than the citizens' assembly, as has been the case before, informing the public of what it needs to do, the citizens' assembly on biodiversity needs to have open ears and invite as broad a range of people as possible to hear what they are doing on the ground, reinforce that work and ensure that is part of any recommendations that emerge.

One of Sadiq Khan's first moves as Mayor of London was to designate that, by a particular year, he wanted London to be a national park city. That is an incredible concept. I mentioned it when I was an Opposition Front Bench spokesperson for Dublin. Can the Minister of State imagine if we in Dublin began to reimagine our city as a park, how differently we would treat it and how much more respectful we would be of it? We could conceptualise our city space as park space to be treasured, cultivated, nurtured, respected and protected, but a park in which people live. Rather than an industrial or residential complex, all of these would be situated within the concept of a park.

The Minister of State will be well aware of my views on the directly elected mayor going back over a number of years. I am intrigued as to what the citizens' assembly comes up with. There is a need for Dublin to establish its place among the cities of the world with one voice and with one go-to person to serve as champion and point of reference for all things Dublin for people overseas or nationally. The downside, given our electoral system, is that if we pursue that course, an indirect consequence may be to imbue that politician with powers substantially above what we want him or her to have. That person would become a powerful voice in political Ireland, probably the second or third most powerful voice, given the mandate he or she would receive from a Dublin electorate. That has to be tempered. My view is that, on local election day, as citizens go to elect the councillors in each county and ward in Dublin, they should also elect one person per ward they want to sit on a Dublin regional assembly. That would give a 30- or 40-member regional assembly, to which the directly elected mayor would be answerable, and counterbalance any fears people may have about a directly elected mayor having unfettered power. It would also ensure the voices from the four Dublin local authorities and each ward in each of those authorities would be represented accurately.

This would cost money but Dublin needs someone to speak on particular topics with one voice, including such issues as drugs, policing and transport. That person would seek a mandate, go before the public on that mandate and, four or five years later, go again before the public and seek its response as to whether the mandate has been fulfilled. As a member of a local drugs task force, I would like to see one voice championing the needs of disadvantaged communities in our city and county and pulling together all the myriad and scores of threads in relation to the provision of public transport in the city into one body to make decisions. In the area of policing, people are crying out and a directly elected mayor would have a powerful mandate in speaking on matters of policing, security and safety of people in our capital city and county.

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