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

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí go léir. First, I will try to sum up the points made in the ten minutes I have. I thank all Deputies for their contributions. It is somewhat disappointing that the main Opposition spokespeople for agriculture and the environment have all left the Chamber. We often get criticised in this Chamber for not having Ministers present for Dáil debates and it is disappointing they did not choose to stay for the remainder of the debate.

I want to respond to the comments made by Deputy O'Rourke, and by the Sinn Féin Deputies generally. I am still at a loss to understand why they took the position they did in the European Parliament in January. Deputy O'Rourke raised issues around the concrete funding measures but said they are without a roadmap. We have the funding for that. The roadmap will be our nature restoration plan. I agree wholeheartedly with what he said about the citizens' assembly, both the main one and the one I established, the Young People's Assembly on Biodiversity Loss, and about the historic underfunding of nature. We are in the process of trying to redress that. I hope that if Sinn Féin is on this side of the House in the next government, it will continue that trajectory because it needs to be continued.

We have ensured that biodiversity officers in local authorities have the necessary skills. Peer-to-peer supports are in train as well. The State is leading the way. I agree with a lot of the points made. I could have given the speech made by Deputy O'Rourke, but the inconsistency is quite staggering.

Specifically on the points raised by Deputy Kerrane about the Sinn Féin MEP, Chris MacManus, we have not had engagement with him. Our door has been open to all MEPs and we have spoken to them all. I could not find anything in the amendment around compensation. I do not know where it is. Deputy Kerrane might come back to me on that.

Seán Kelly MEP is on the record as stating in regard to the multi-annual financial framework that there will be support there. There already is funding through the LIFE programmes and the European Innovation Partnerships, EIPs.

I looked at the Sinn Féin budget for nature restoration. The total is €75 million. We actually announced more than that this week alone, with two EIPs, a LIFE project and the expansion of ACRES. Again, there is inconsistency and that is disappointing.

Deputy Carthy raised issues around targets being accompanied by a plan. Yes, that is exactly what we are doing. Again, the implementation plan could fall on Sinn Féin's watch, if it is in the fortunate position to be in government the next time round. We are setting this up and I do hope that Sinn Féin will follow it through.

I thank Deputy Nash for his contribution and for the support of the Labour Party's sister party on the nature restoration plan in Europe.

I also thank the European People's Party. Deputy Connolly raised the support of the MEPs, Mick Wallace and Clare Daly. I had really good engagement with them. I really want to thank them for their support as well.

Deputy Cahill raised issues around the capital value of land and participation in schemes such as the hen harrier designation. Again, I acknowledge all of this. He is correct. He is not incorrect in terms of the unsustainability of big countries like Brazil and China. He also mentioned the issues around land adjacent to land where there are rewetting projects. Again, I will go back to points made last year by Pat O'Toole in the Irish Farmers' Journal about demonstration farms. I think that is going to be hugely important. Deputy Fitzmaurice and I spoke about that as well. We must look at the opportunities around this in terms of rural tourism and the production of wholesome food close to nature.

I agree with what Deputy Whitmore said about baby steps. What we have done does involve baby steps but that €65 million represents a 135% increase in funding for the National Parks and Wildlife Service. It is still not enough and that trajectory will need to continue. I agree with the Deputy on the role of Bord na Móna and Coillte. We want Coillte to go much further, particularly in relation to the hen harrier and to strengthen its commitments in regard to the threat response plan for that scheme. In the national biodiversity action plan, Coillte has committed to managing 30% of its estate for nature by 2025. Again, that commitment is there, but we do want it to go further. I agree with Deputy Whitmore on the remit of Bord na Móna and Coillte. That does need to change in line with what we are expecting of them in terms of restoring nature. I hope that through the public consultation for the hen harrier threat response plan, we will see actions emerging that will turn around the fortunes of this iconic bird.

I thank Deputy Haughey for his comments as well on the fourth national biodiversity action plan, tackling wildlife crime, and invasive alien species. We are certainly making significant progress in terms of wildlife crime. I again welcome the supportive comments he made. I saw how enthralled he was while he watched with great interest the film by Seán Ronayne, "Birdsong", in the audiovisual room. It was lovely to step into the audiovisual room and get away from the madness of this place and watch birds and listen to birdsong. I thank Deputy Ó Cathasaigh for bringing Seán and his team to the audiovisual room.

Deputy Haughey is right that many are already restoring nature. Many communities, Tidy Towns groups and landowners are already restoring nature. I again thank David and Róisín Faye and their children, Michael and Marie. I have the Westmeath mud on my boots to prove that I was there this morning with my colleagues, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett. They turned around poor water quality status and made it good by using simple measures with a number of participating landowners. They put in wider buffer zones, solar panels and pumps to give water to their animals. It has turned around the bathing water status of the lake in the Lilliput area. I commend them. We are doing this for their children. I would love to see them having the same future on the land that their parents have.

Deputy Paul Murphy made some valid points about special areas of conservation, SACs. In fact, all of our SACs have site-specific conservation objectives. There are activities requiring consent in relation to those. There are hundreds of measures in more than 600 sites throughout the country.

I want to focus a little bit on the points made by Deputy Ó Cuív about nature restoration versus rewilding. I am not entirely sure what rewilding is but restoration is an active engagement that involves active participation. We need landowners and farmers. We need grazing animals. Sometimes I see rewilding as a bit of an abandonment of land.

There is too much of that happening due to issues of succession and the challenges associated with farmers not having young people coming forward. I agree with that point about the reference and what we are talking about. We need active farmers and farming. The corncrake projects around north-west Donegal and Mayo are starting to yield success. I thank all of the Corncrake LIFE team who are working with landowners. I have been up with them and will be going up again in a few weeks' time to see some of the work that is going on. It is wonderful to start hearing the sound of the corncrake, the Crex crex,on the landscape again.

I thank Deputy Ó Cathasaigh for the always poetic comments he brings to the table.

Deputy Ó Murchú raised the issue of Sellafield and I will engage with him on that matter outside the Chamber.

Deputy Mattie McGrath's contribution was a typical one. Perhaps if he has land, he would like to get involved in restoring some nature. There will be good money in it so I invite him to get involved in some restoration projects.

I agree wholeheartedly with what Deputy Bruton said about farmers and a sector-wide approach, which is significant. I take on board the points around vague targets in the national biodiversity action plan, NBAP.

I thank Deputies Fitzmaurice and Connolly for their contributions.

It has been a useful debate and I hope Deputes found it useful. We will continue to engage. I am conscious this debate will go into the record of the Dáil. Perhaps in the future it will be examined by researchers or academics. They will do so either in the context of our collective failure to restore nature, our failure to save species from extinction and our failure to save our corncrakes, hen harriers, curlews and lapwings, or they may be researching the transcript in the light of examining the turning point for nature in Ireland and Europe, when our skies again are full of birds, our hedgerows are buzzing with pollinators and farmland birds, our seas are teeming, our towns and cities are climate resilient, and our collective well-being is made all the better for the sights, sounds and smells of a nature positive future. I again thank all Deputies for their contributions. We look forward to continuing to engage for the lifetime of this Government and, please God, whoever is in this seat in the future will continue to do the work we have been doing.

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