Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have formulated our society, industry and economies in a particular way, which it would not be unfair to say is anything but sustainable. It is about increasing what we can all get and use. There was talk about going back to the time of our grandparents. I can think of conversations had in the 1980s about "waste not, want not" and if we had more consideration for the likes of those things that we would have laughed at as kids we would definitely be in a better place than the consumer society gone mad that we have at this point in time.

If we look at anything over the last 40 to 50 years as regards biodiversity indicators, they were all going the wrong way. This week we heard that about a million species are in danger. We do not need to be an expert on biology, biodiversity or climate because if that is the case, it is easy to say that we are screwed unless we do something about it.

Let us pick a couple of other statistics. There has been a 40% drop in the number of water birds since the 1990s. Of 24 species of resident sea birds, 23 are now in the red or amber categories for conservation concern. None of that is good. We can probably pick any statistics on plants, trees or anything else, and whether we are talking about the environment or the world we live in as one giant ecosystem or multiple interconnected ecosystems, either which way we are facing into disaster. A million species face the chop. None of this looks like it is in an any way sustainable whatsoever.

The other view is that is grand. There is a truth in the fact that it is very easy to get up during a debate like this and say nice things; to say that we have to do what is necessary, and we have to work with all the others, including all the stakeholders. We love talking about engagement with stakeholders. The fact is we have no choice. We absolutely must do it.

It is a fair point that people make. We know targets have been set for trees and afforestation. We know that targets have been met. We all say the targets are not good enough. I have heard the question asked on the Government benches about whether we have the tools that are required to deliver what we need. It is fair to say we do not in any way, shape or form have those tools. Do we need to look at the mandate of the likes of Bord na Móna and Coillte? We could all talk forever about the madness we were heading towards as regards Gresham House, as if investment vulture funds were going to do the business in getting the best bang for buck for the Irish people or in delivering on necessary afforestation because it is the right thing to do. Of course, they will not deliver in that regard. We need to get real about what is possible.

There is nobody in this House who would not say we in Ireland have suffered from the fact there has been poor planning over many years. We can look at all the major crises that were caused during the Celtic tiger period. Now we are talking about afforestation and trees. There is not a town in Ireland in which a local authority ever considered planting the right trees. I am sure I am not the only person who has looked for trees to be replaced because what happens is we end up with utterly useless leylandii that do not nothing but block the sewerage system and are absolutely destroying the area underneath people's homes and all the rest of it. We need some sort of sensible facility for fixing these sorts of daft problems. I accept that people looked at trees from the point of view of thinking they looked nice. However, they look nice when they are 4 ft tall, not when they grow to 25 ft, above and below ground.

We really need to get serious about these issues. There must be engagement with agencies, local authorities and Irish Water. At this point in time, as we know, there are HR issues that need to be dealt with. It cannot be the case that sewage continues to be spewed into our waters. It does not make any sense whatsoever. We really need to get all these pieces together. We have been talking about renewables and all the rest of it. We have all seen decent projects that have operated in our local communities, including Tidy Towns competitions and so on. We all know they suffer from difficulties in securing the necessary funding.

I am out of time at this stage. I hope we are not out of time to do what needs to be done to ensure we have long-term biodiversity and the climate action that is required.

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