Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the rights of nature advocates who are in the Gallery. They and other environmental advocates have been working for decades to try to bring to the fore the needs of nature. Their work on this issue has been vital.

As we are all aware, nature is in crisis. It has been dying on its feet for decades and that process has accelerated in recent years. Aligned with that is our knowledge and understanding as we have become much more aware of what is happening, what we have done and what we need to do to address the issue and make change. In that regard, the reports of the joint committee and the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss are very important. The recommendations, which are based on science and expert advice, make clear what Ireland needs to do to address biodiversity loss and it is important that we action them.

The majority of recommendations made in both reports align very closely and I will refer specifically to a number of them. One that I have raised previously with the Minister of State is the need for the State to do what it can on its own lands. As the largest owner of lands in the country, the State needs to lead. It is particularly important - this was raised in both reports - that the remits of Coillte and Bord na Móna be changed to reflect biodiversity as a key component of their functions. Those organisations need to be given the legal remit to incorporate biodiversity into their considerations and business decisions. That has not happened and it is absolutely clear that it needs to happen.

The Arterial Drainage Act is another key area where an enormous difference could be made. This has been identified on a number of occasions. That legislation needs to be changed and we need to see this Government do that. I understand Deputy Leddin's point on these documents being the basis for the next programme for Government. The Government has another year to run and it could do a lot in that year. It is essential that it does it in the time available to it.

There is also the issue of giving nature a voice and recognising that we had a citizens' assembly on the rights of nature. That is absolutely critical because our culture and society have moved away from being part of nature. We see ourselves as being above nature all of the time. We do not reflect nature or nature's needs in many of the decisions made, whether by governments or businesses or across society in general. That is very important.

We need to see the terms of reference of the expert group and full transparency as regards how the group is operated. We need experts on the group, including experts on constitutional law and property rights and ecologists. It must also work on a whole-of-government basis and be provided with sufficient resources to do a good job. We have all seen the outcome when referendums are not handled well. We cannot afford to allow that to happen.

We talk about nature and climate interchangeably all of the time, which is very important because they are connected and reliant on each other and the solutions for one are the solutions for the other. The key difference, however, is that many of the climate mitigation measures are global issues, whereas when it comes to nature, we can act here. Nature is completely within our remit. I know the nature restoration law has reached something of an impasse but we should not rely on or wait for the EU to push this. We should do the work ourselves and lead on it in Ireland because nature cannot wait any longer. It cannot wait for more reports or directions to come from the EU. We know what needs to be done and the Government has the mandate to do it. A biodiversity and climate crisis was declared in 2019. We have the recommendations of the citizens' assembly and the joint committee and the public are with us on this. I ask that the Government action these measures and do what it can in the remaining months of this Dáil term.

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