Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I would like to be associated with the remarks of an Teachta O'Rourke regarding the contribution of the Minister at COP27, as well as that of the Taoiseach. I am glad to speak about COP27. It feeds into the claims of climate deniers to say that COP has created so much hot air, it would make its own contribution to global warming.

It is important to put climate in the media and public spotlight. This is somewhere climate definitely needs to be because, like it or not, climate change is not something that is happening in a far-off country. The impacts of climate change are coming home to us in Europe. There is more torrential rain, warmer oceans and hurricanes coming further north all the time. There are more landslides, wildfires, droughts, heatwaves and flash flooding, and agricultural land is being rendered useless or damaged.

Last year there were killer floods in France, Belgium and Germany. Large parts of Greece, Spain, Portugal and France went up in flames. At the weekend the island of Ischia was devastated by the Himalayan-type rain that is hitting Italy with more force and regularity. Europe knows about loss and damage, although it is up there with the USA in inflicting it on some of the poorer countries in the world. In terms of money, loss and damage, as laid out in COP27 it is Europe and the United States that will pay the largest amount into the fund. However, as China is the worst cumulative emitter in the world, apart from the US. it must also play its part.

Gordon Brown spoke about China and its responsibilities during the weekend. I agree with him. We need to establish funds rather than loans, because there is something wrong about climate hammered nations paying the so-called developed world for the damage inflicted on them. Trócaire and other groups spoke at the Committee on Environment and Climate Action about trying to get loss and damage onto the COP agenda. It was great that was done because funding needs to be established on the basis of rights and entitlement rather than doled out or dangled as favours.

The financial planning to make this happen is critical. This was the point I made yesterday to Jim Clarken, the executive director of Oxfam. When Trócaire, Oxfam, Christian Aid and others came to speak to us at the Committee on Environment and Climate Action a few weeks ago, they made powerful and alarming presentations about the scale of loss and damage being experienced and the scale of the response required. I was happy to speak to the Kenyan ambassador, Michael Mubea, about climate change issues raised at the committee in respect of the Wajir area of Kenya.

There were excellent presentations at the committee earlier on the role of the media in communicating the climate crisis. The point was made that it is its job to communicate the scale of the crisis to us, given that we rely on the media to tell us what needs to change. So much of the media is owned by companies that may be resistant to the kind of profound change needed in our way of life. English language media, when talking about a heatwave, are still coming out with stock images of children at beaches with melting ice creams, with wildflowers behind them. It is kind of mad. It is welcome that the national broadcaster, RTÉ, is moving to address this in the context of climate change. As the old saying goes, when the last fish is eaten, the last tree is dead and the last drop of clean water is drunk, what use will money be to us then?

I realise there is criticism of COP, but the agreement on loss and damages at the eleventh hour is something that is to be welcomed. We now must pursue it vigorously because the Earth is changing underneath our feet. As a member of the Committee on Environment and Climate Action, a socialist republican and, especially, a new grandmother, I am worried about the world we are leaving to our children. I am especially anxious that we move with all speed to establish loss and damage funds to make sure the countries affected start to benefit from the funds immediately. It is in all our interests that we do that.

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