Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

My officials are listening. I am sure they will get copies across now. Before I speak to my vision for the nature restoration law and the opportunities it represents for those individuals, their communities and the wider rural economy, I will deal with some of the misinformation that has been at play in this debate. That is what it has been: misinformation and, dare I say it, in some cases, scaremongering. In some other cases, there have also been deliberate attempts to whip up fear for what I can only assume is some narrow political gain. However, I acknowledge there have also been genuine concerns. Polarised debates such as those we have had in this House and in the media bring much heat but little in the way of light. I intend to use some of my time to shed light on the facts and, as I said at the outset, engage in a constructive and honest conversation.

On Tuesday evening, I sat down with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, to discuss the nature restoration law. We are united in our views and I would like to set out a number of points on the record for the benefit of everybody here. I want to be crystal clear on these. First, all nature restoration measures will be voluntary. There has been significant confusion as to whether the NRL is mandatory or not. It is mandatory for Ireland. The legal obligation to achieve the targets is on the member states. It is Ireland that will be in court if we do not comply. However, participation in restoration measures is voluntary for individual landowners.

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The legislation is explicit on this in relation to rewetting, but participation in relation to wider restoration measures is a national competency. The Government is clear that all restoration measures will be voluntary. It is up to the Government to make the participation an attractive proposition. Rewetting targets have been softened compared with the original draft of the nature restoration law. What is more, member states can determine for themselves what rewetting means in practice. This includes at national, regional or sectoral levels. The Government is confident that the 2030 and 2040 rewetting targets, at a minimum, can be met entirely on State lands. This is worth repeating: we are confident that the 2030 and 2040 targets can be met on State lands. More analysis is needed to establish how far we can go towards the 2050 rewetting targets on public land. It is important, however, to point to a further caveat that allows member states heavily affected by rewetting obligations to determine lower targets in certain circumstances.

The situation around restoration measures and CAP payments was confirmed by Commissioner Sinkevičius in a letter to Billy Kelleher MEP this week. I will confirm that situation again: the nature restoration law “neither interferes with nor amends” CAP payment rules. In the CAP regulations under Recital 16 it is clear that the area eligible for direct payments is not reduced when subject to certain requirements relating to environmental protection, and remains eligible for direct payments. Key in this regard is confusion around the definition of “condition”. The “condition” of habitats and ecosystems is very different to agricultural “condition”. The former relates to ecological assessments as defined in the habitats directive, whereas the latter relates to good agricultural environment conditions under the CAP regulations. I can confirm that restoration measures will not negatively impact on any existing CAP payments, or on any other scheme or incentive delivered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The Government is committed to ensuring that nature restoration provides additional income streams for those who choose to participate. Schemes will be well incentivised and, crucially, designed in partnership with all stakeholders over the next two years as part of the nature restoration planning process. Farmers’ expertise will be called on to help to shape these schemes. I thank the Fay family in County Westmeath. I was there this morning and have the muck on my heels to prove it. They are doing work on the farming for water European innovation project. I was there with my colleagues, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett. There is fantastic work going on around the country.

For funding, the legislation commits the EU to assessing the level of funding required to implement the nature restoration law, and to conducting an overview of financial resources available. The Irish Government will support the Commission in these assessments. As Members will be aware, we have already announced a €3.15 billion climate and nature fund. This fund will support the implementation of the nature restoration law. The potential for private funding will also be explored. It is often missed in conversations on the nature restoration law that tens of thousands of Irish farmers are already volunteering to take part in nature restoration schemes. It is happening up and down the country. I have met with many of the farmers who are involved in these schemes. Some 46,000 farmers are part of the ACRES programme, on both ACRES general and the co-operation projects. An additional 9,000 farmers were accepted onto this scheme today. Again I thank my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, for fighting for this. It is a really welcome development. More than 3,200 farmers are participating in European innovation partnerships, EIPs. This number will increase significantly as two new large-scale EIPs for water and breeding waders come on stream, which I launched with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett. More than 1,200 farmers are already taking part in LIFE programmes and over 300 are involved in the National Parks and Wildlife Service farm plan scheme. I have visited many of these schemes over the past years. They are doing really wonderful work already in restoring nature.

We will build on what works, and improve it, to give farmers the confidence to get involved. For the Deputies, and anyone else who is listening today, I hope it will be clear from what I have said that farmers have nothing to fear from the nature restoration law. If anything, this law has the potential to bring substantial opportunities. By working together and listening to each other we can ensure that implementation at farm level is harmonious and beneficial in the context of food production. Ultimately, food production and healthy nature depend on one another. Their fortunes in Ireland are entirely intertwined. Future generations of farmers, and indeed future generations in Ireland as a whole, will have their livelihoods, their health and their well-being severely diminished if we carry on down the path we have been travelling. Change is urgently needed.

It is understandable that with change comes uncertainty. As Minister of State with responsibility for the birds and habitats directives, I know all too well the history of nature conservation in Ireland and the challenges experienced by many farmers. I understand the fear of designations, the complex layer of bureaucracy introduced into day-to-day farming, and the challenges of working the land and the seas in those contexts. I understand the fear of land being devalued. As I understand those things, I am able to give the House a firm commitment today that we have learned from the mistakes of the past. There are no designations under the nature restoration law. The director general of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Niall Ó Donnchú, confirmed this today in the Irish Farmers’ Journal. We will hear everyone’s views. We will ensure that measures are workable at farm level, are supported by good guidance and advice, and bring real benefits for nature and for people.

Let us be clear here: people want this, young people want it and the Irish public want it. It is not just my voters who want it; it is other Members' voters too. Nature is something that motivates and inspires everyone - young, old, urban, rural, office workers, shop workers and farm workers. I have never met a single person who has told me they do not care about nature in some way or another. I believe this is why the nature restoration law has been brought about with such an enormous groundswell of support from right across society. This has been reflected across government too. Ireland has been utterly consistent in its support for the nature restoration law. Our coalition partners deserve significant credit for this, particularly the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, who has truly led from the front. Our colleagues in Europe - our MEPs and particularly our Fine Gael MEPs - were pivotal in bringing the nature restoration law to this point. Their decision to support it will be long remembered. I believe we can say that without Ireland and without the leadership of the Irish Government and Irish MEPs, Europe would not have a nature restoration law. If this is not a powerful indication of just how seriously Ireland takes the biodiversity crisis, I do not know what is. It is baffling then that Sinn Féin, which voted in favour of nature restoration in the Dáil, which supported the nature restoration law in the previous European Parliament vote, and which frequently says it is committed to climate and biodiversity action, should backtrack so spectacularly, but I guess that is what it does.

The Government is on the right side of history on this one. Our attention now turns to the development of our national nature restoration plan over the next 24 months. It is up to each member state to decide how it will achieve the obligations under the nature restoration law. These obligations are expansive, covering multiple policy areas and a wide array of habitats, species and ecosystems: agricultural ecosystems with targets for farmland birds, grassland butterflies, high-diversity landscape features, cropland mineral soils and rewetting of peat soils; forest ecosystems, with targets for increasing trends of standing and lying deadwood, uneven aged forests, forest connectivity, forest birds, and a contribution to an EU-wide ambition to plant 3 billion trees by 2030; river ecosystems, with targets for restoring natural flood plain functions and removing artificial barriers; urban ecosystems, where we will increase green spaces and tree canopy cover; marine ecosystems, with targets to restore habitats and achieve good environmental status; and restoration targets for all of the listed habitats and species under the EU nature directives, which are our most precious places for nature across terrestrial, coastal and freshwater ecosystems throughout the State. It is indeed a huge task.

In my Department, work has already started to develop Ireland’s nature restoration planning process. Led by an independent chair, this process will comprise a series of interactive workshops on three key themes: land, marine and urban environments. I am clear that this will not be an ordinary public consultation. It will be based on principles of participation and co-creation. I believe this approach, which puts people at the centre and values diverse perspectives, is vital if the nature restoration law is to be a positive force for change. We cannot shy away from the fact that developing the plan will be an enormous challenge. Two years is not long to do all of the work that is needed. We must quantify and map areas to be restored; set the baseline from which progress can be measured; identify and develop measures and actions for inclusion in the plan; develop schemes and programmes to enhance the delivery; outline timescales, monitoring requirements and financing needs; and capture and represent the requirements of strategic partners and stakeholders. Then we have to implement it. I see the implementation of the nature restoration law and Ireland’s efforts to reverse years of nature loss as one of our most important national projects for the coming decades. It is our meitheal mór.

Healthy nature is our first and best line of defence against climate change. The resilience brought about by restored natural ecosystems will help us to withstand the worst effects of extreme weather, floods and droughts. As our population grows, more of us will be looking for ways to get away from screens, disconnect from the digital world, and get out into the fresh air where we can get our hands dirty. Action for nature is good for us, for our physical health, for our peace of mind, and for our overall well-being.

It also gives us a sense of hope that the future is something we have the power to make not just less bad but actively better. While much of the debate has been focused on farmers, this really is about everybody. There is a role for all of us in restoring nature. Ní neart go cur le chéile agus ní mór do gach éinne a bheith taobh thiar den ghluaiseacht seo. Tá an nádúr ag fanacht linn, tá ár bpáistí ag breathnú orainn agus tá na glúnta atá le teacht ag brath orainn.

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