David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I will point out that I was told almost two years ago that the scoping report on the management of coastal change was almost finalised and would be submitted to Government shortly. It still has not been submitted to Government, which is a little bit alarming but we will wait and see. Perhaps the Minister of State will tell us when it will actually be submitted and what will happen as a result.

There is another curious issue in the Minister of State's response. He said that "it should also be recognised that coastal erosion also has beneficial effects [...] such as providing natural nourishment and supply of sediment to adjacent beaches." I am not talking about that at all. I am talking about the sea level rising, that rise not going away and the sea level staying up. There is a danger of mixing up erosion and rising sea levels. Much of the Minister of State's response was about coastal erosion, which is welcome information and the works being carried out to mitigate it are important, but permanent sea level rises are a totally different matter and far more serious. In the final paragraph of the Minister of State's response, it is acknowledged that there is a need for a longer-term co-ordinated approach to tackle the issue of coastal change. Again, I am talking about rising sea levels and not just coastal change, that is, sea levels rising because of the megatonnes of ice in glaciers that are melting. Most international studies and countries are saying that is the case. We do not have a plan to deal with rising sea levels, rather than erosion, that I am aware of. I emphasise that it is of great importance that we start taking this very seriously. I have already outlined the risks to our services, our roads, our transport infrastructure and our railways. Much of our electricity generation capacity is on the coast. Households will have to adapt in a big way or move. They will not be able to get insurance. It goes on and on. Most other countries across the world are taking this very seriously. I do not believe we are.

See this speech in context