Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is with deep regret that I raise this issue again, along with my colleague, Deputy Fitzmaurice. We raised it some time ago and were given assurances that work was ongoing on the matter. I then submitted a parliamentary question on it. To say the reply was opaque and less than satisfactory would be putting it mildly. We are talking about a Bill that had passed the Dáil and the Seanad, where some amendments were made, and fell because an election was called in the beginning of 2020. This is basically an Aladdin's lamp Bill. The issue was that the bogs that were degraded and had been cut were being swapped for pristine bogs that would be designated as natural heritage areas, NHAs. Unlike Aladdin's lamp, this really was new for old and there was no genie one had to rub to find the old one was better.

It is hard to understand how it has taken the Department three years to come to this point - or not come to it, which is the issue - and we still have not had sight of a recommitted Bill. Either the amendments from the Seanad were satisfactory or they were not. One would think that if they were not satisfactory, the Government would have gone back to the original Bill passed by Dáil Éireann and recommitted that to the Dáil or introduced a new Bill, the wildlife (amendment) Bill 2022. We need a certain date by which this Bill will be introduced into the Dáil so it can get swift passage through and become law, as was promised before the previous Government was formed back in 2016.

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