Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I want to ask if the Taoiseach will listen to the citizens' assemblies when they report. We establish them and they make recommendations on the basis of the evidence that they hear. For example, will the Taoiseach listen to the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss in the context of the Gresham House deal? Will the Taoiseach listen to them when they say that State-owned woodland should be recognised and managed as a strategic long-term national asset for the benefit of the common good? They make such a recommendation because they understand that we are in, internationally, a sixth mass extinction event. In Ireland, one in every fifth species is threatened with extinction and one in every third species of bee is threatened with extinction. We are in an absolute dire crisis. Unfortunately, the monocultural Sitka spruce model of forestry practised in Ireland means that instead of being a guardian of biodiversity, our forests have been turned into a graveyard of biodiversity. That is a direct consequence of organising our forestry for profit rather than for combating climate change and biodiversity loss.

Does the Taoiseach accept he must instruct Coillte to tear up the deal with Gresham House? If he says he cannot do that, he should bring emergency legislation to the House to enable Coillte to do it. A majority of Deputies in the Dáil would vote in favour of it. The deal must be torn up and Coillte's mandate must be changed.

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