Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Where to start? Speaking as someone who has worked and studied in this area since I was 17, the debate so far this evening has been incredibly difficult to listen to. When we have the Chair of a committee talking about the sole purpose of a river being to drain water away from farmlands, I wonder whether we need to have an ecological education programme within the Houses of the Oireachtas.

We heard from a number of parties this evening. I want to specifically refer to Sinn Féin because that contribution today was also very difficult to listen to. We heard its Members talk about how nature loss and the biodiversity crisis represent the greatest challenge that humanity faces and action is needed, yet Sinn Féin voted against a voluntary programme that is designed to protect nature and restore nature. I cannot fathom how that position was reached. That the recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss were used to defend that action is particularly hard to comprehend.

I wish to be clear: the Social Democrats are very supportive of the nature restoration law. It is absolutely vital to stymieing the destruction we are seeing in nature at the moment and have seen for some decades. It is important that any measures taken are done collaboratively in consultation with communities but they also need to be taken quickly. We do not have time to wait; nature does not have time to wait. My principal concern about this is that there is a two-year period. While I understand why that is necessary, I do not want to see any action on biodiversity that we are currently undertaking or proposing be stalled while that two-year process happens. We cannot afford for that to be the case.

The Minister of State spoke earlier about us having a constructive and honest debate today and I absolutely agree. While we can be critical of other Members in the Chamber, the Minister of State and his Government colleagues are the ones who hold the power when it comes to nature restoration at the moment. I want to bring a reality check into the debate. From my perspective, the major initiatives and successes that the Government has had to date could be summarised as baby steps when it comes to the actual crisis we are facing, and the need for action and the scope of that action. While I welcome those baby steps, they are not big enough or quick enough. They are not at the scale that we need.

While I welcome the investment in the National Parks and Wildlife Service, it came from a very low level. It now gets funding of €67.5 million. That contrasts with the €95 million that the horse and greyhound industry gets. We are so out of kilter with our priorities that I can understand completely how nature is dying around us as we talk.

The €3.15 billion climate and nature fund will start in 2026. There is no ring-fencing for nature in the capital budget. That is needed now and money needs to be allocated for nature.

I very much welcome the 31 biodiversity officers, but we are talking about 31 staff out of a total number of staff of 31,000 in local authorities. Again, it is a drop in the ocean.

A lot was made of the fact the national biodiversity action plan was on a statutory footing. However, the targets are so obscure that they are not legally enforceable. Many of them are 2030 targets while we are indeed in a biodiversity crisis now.

There was no change to the remit of Coillte and Bord na Móna, which I think was the absolute primary missed opportunity when it comes to that biodiversity plan. If the Minister of State had actually brought that in, we would have seen the systems changes we need to see in this country to start addressing nature. If this is the Government's once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do that and turn that tide, unfortunately, it has failed on that. This Government is now four years into a five-year term and those systems changes are not there.

One thing that keeps on being spoken about in the nature restoration law is that the State could meet its targets out to 2030 and 2040 on State land. That will not happen unless the remit of both Coillte and Bord na Móna is changed so that biodiversity is a key priority of theirs and that it is not just a commercial remit they have. The solely commercial focus of these entities is absolutely destroying nature as we speak. This is the Coillte strategy engagement report where it has the carbon decision tree. Essentially, this looks at the company's peatlands and says what it will replant and will not replant, and the choices are made purely on a yield basis. It does not look at an area and say it should not be replanting on peatland, which is a known. The Minister of State agreed with me that there should be no replanting on peatland. Unfortunately, it did not get into the national biodiversity action plan. Here, Coillte is saying it is not a feature for it. It does not review or look at the biodiversity potential of a site. When it sees a piece of peatland, it looks to see how much wood and profit it can squeeze out of it. Until that is changed, we will not see the changes in biodiversity we need to see and the Government will not meet its targets under the nature restoration law.

I will give the House an example because we have many plans, proposals, press releases and nice publicity photos but the reality on the ground is not reflecting those plans, proposals, promises and targets. I will use one example, the hen harrier which is an iconic species. It is, on paper, the most protected species in Ireland and is one of the most studied species, and yet what we see is that from 2015, when there was a breeding population of 108 to 157, to 2022, where we are now down to 85 to 106 pairs of a breeding population. It is a 59% decline, almost one third, since 2000. This species will be extinct in 25 years unless we make the changes required. That means making tough decisions when it comes to where Coillte is planting and how peatlands are being managed. Currently, there is more breeding happening outside special protection areas for this species than there is within these because of the level of afforestation in those SPAs. That does not make any sense at all.

When we get this right, we get it right for farmers as well. I listened to Jonathan Blackmore on "Morning Ireland" where he talked about his land and how he used to see it as waste land. When it was designated as having hen harrier status, he said it was like the death knell for their family and for their land. When they went through the process and learned how valuable their land actually was, however, and that this poor and unproductive land was actually rich and valuable and was very much worth fighting for, you could hear the pride in his voice when he spoke about that. Farmers and landowners are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to protecting this species, but it is the Government that is failing and is overseeing the extinction of this species. It will be extinct in 25 years and that will be the legacy of the Green Party in Government if it does not get this right and if it does not make those changes to Coillte, to Bord na Móna, to the Arterial Drainage Acts and to all of those different pieces of legislation. If they are not changed to reflect biodiversity, nature and the crisis we are in, and they continue solely on the profit basis, all those other nature restoration laws will mean nothing. We will never meet them and they will just be a target.

Oonagh Duggan of BirdWatch Ireland said the Government is quietly quitting on this iconic bird. To hear her say that was such a strong statement but it is important to get it on the record. I do not think it is something the Minister of State would want as his legacy. I ask that, regardless of everything else the Minister of State gets across the line before this Government's term is over, he puts in the heavy work now and gets the remits of Coillte and Bord na Móna changed. If he wants to leave a legacy for nature, that is how he does it.

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