Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will be addressing more or less the same broad themes referred to by Deputy Gannon, namely, the nature restoration law and migration. I noted that the letter of invitation to the EU Council meeting sent by President Charles Michelle refers specifically to the recent tragic shipwreck in the Mediterranean and what he termed our European migratory approach. It has been difficult over the past couple of weeks not to be struck by the grotesque juxtaposition of the small but genuine tragedy of the submersible and the response to the ship that capsized owing to the number of migrants on it. In the first case, there was wall-to-wall media coverage, and the forces of many states were leveraged to carry out a search-and-rescue mission in what was ultimately not a successful exercise. In the second case, there was the spectacle of coastguard forces and the media stepping away from a huge human tragedy unfolding right before their eyes. It is difficult to think about this without considering the fact that we are still criminalising people who are actually attempting to intervene. In particular, I am thinking of Seán Binder, an Irish citizen who still has charges against him for attempting to help people who find themselves in absolutely hopeless circumstances.

The agenda for the meeting ahead refers to a European migratory approach in line with EU principles, values and fundamental rights. It is difficult to make this measure up against the treatment of the 750 migrants who lost their lives in the Mediterranean and the people who try to intervene on their behalf. It is difficult not to think of our own history on this island, from which people made difficult journeys on what were termed "coffin ships". We are now seeing a similar dynamic play across the Mediterranean.

The issue of migration is not going to go away. In fact, it is likely to become more pronounced unless we address its causes. The causes are manifold, of course. They are political in many circumstances but also have to do with our changing climate. Unless we are serious on a EU-wide scale, because no one state in the EU can respond to this unilaterally, and unless we are serious about fulfilling our obligations to migrants equitably, sharing responsibility across member states, the problem will become more pronounced. Unless we are serious about development aid and addressing the root causes of migration, unless we are serious about negotiating a loss-and-damage facility at the next COP, and unless we are serious about the likes of intellectual property rights on climate technology in order to allow developing countries to leapfrog a fossil fuel era and unlock sustainable development, thereby reducing the need for their people to seek shelter and safety elsewhere, the issue of migration will not be addressed.

The other issue I want to raise is related to the nature restoration law but it is also about security. We had an unprecedented news weekend following the uprising or attempted coup in Russia, or whatever it was, and the spectacle of the Wagner forces marching to within 200 km of Moscow. However, we know Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine has had all sorts of other implications, one being related to world food commodity prices. We are aware that, in many senses, Ukraine is a breadbasket for many parts of the developing world and provides huge amounts of wheat.

We saw how interconnected our food system is, and our supply chains in general. We saw how easily they can be disrupted. We saw a massive rethink globally moving from a "just in time" provision that we see in global logistics, to a "just in case" provision. We have to reflect on that here in terms of our own production, in particular our food production. When I saw "here", I mean here in Ireland but also within the EU.

Just this week temperatures in Spain are absolutely soaring. All sorts of problems with water supply are coming into very clear view. There were also water supply issues all across France last year. It led to the shut down of some of its nuclear reactors. The River Po in northern Italy more or less ran dry last year. The issue of food security within our EU borders is coming more and more to the fore. That is one reason why I will back the nature restoration law, for example. That piece is both around climate adaptation and climate mitigation, that we limit the change in our global climate and also adapt to it in order to have better functioning rivers for example that can respond both to prolonged periods of drought as well as flood, that we think differently about our wetlands in regard to both carbon storage and also water storage and that we think differently about our soils and food production because without proper functioning soils and a healthy microbiome there we are at nought.

It also has to have an implication in terms of how we think of our own food systems here in Ireland. We talk a good deal about food sovereignty or food security but that masks the fact that actually our food system is to a large extent based on an import-export model. We export a lot of calories that have come through grassland. We know we can produce grassland better than most countries by dint of the climate we have. That is predominantly meat and dairy. We export up to 90% of the calories we produce through those systems. On the flipside of that coin, we import large amounts of the calories that we actually eat. That issue in Spain will become critical in that much of the vegetables and fruit that ends up on our supermarket shelves come from Spain or even further afield. Yet, within our own country, horticulture is becoming increasingly difficult as a business. We have fewer and fewer vegetable growers operating within our own shores. The nature restoration law is the only pathway I have seen that allows farmers and land owners to look beyond our 2030 targets and look out to 2050. We should actually concentrate on discussing the multi-annual funding framework that will be put in place to support a nature restoration law that I hope will pass plenary in July so that we reward people who operate not just our food services but all of those ecosystem services within our communities for how they steward the landscape. It is pivotal legislation. I very much hope it passes when it reaches plenary in July.

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