Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

My apologies but, unfortunately, I have to attend a Cabinet sub-committee meeting shortly so I have a very limited timeframe but I am very glad to be able to speak on this motion. I will start by quoting the Green Party motto, which is Think Global, Act Local. I want to follow Deputy Bacik by going very local and talking about Dublin. So often when we talk about biodiversity, the discussion is framed in a rural context but it is an urban issue too. In terms of how we restore nature, stop runaway climate change, halt the destruction of the natural world and the loss of biodiversity, as well as stop water and air pollution, the premise and approach has to be that every place matters and every person matters. This is not something that we should divide on politically because it is in everyone's interests for us to protect the natural world. It is a fundamental, common experience as human beings that we live within the natural world and are dependent on it.

All should and do have an intrinsic interest in protecting it. We need to move from the theoretical to the specific. I would start where Deputy Bacik finished and say that we need to extend our nature reserves and start in Poolbeg.

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