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

I am speaking about completing the first draft within weeks, so it will be before the end of the year. That will help to inform people and give a direction from central government, following consultation. It will set the path.

The process takes too long. There are many examples one could pick of it taking a long time to take remedial measures. I could cite Sandymount in my constituency, which happens to be in the newspapers today. It has to do with flood protection from sea inundation rather than overflowing rivers, but a date of 2030 was quoted in the newspapers for when the local authority might be able to come to a final solution.

In many ways, we need to double the speed of everything we are doing in respect of climate matters. The impact of climate change even over the past year has doubled dramatically.

Sometimes, nature-based solutions take time. It takes time to plant a hedgerow, switch to mixed swards and change the forestry model. All of these are solutions we can pursue upstream. It takes time to rewet bogs, although we are doing 15,000 ha this year. We are working on solutions, but we need to speed up.

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