Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will pick up where the Deputy left off in echoing his comments about the rights of nature and the establishment of the expert group. We do need that constitutional change to recognise people's right to a healthy environment on one hand and the rights of nature on the other. We know from very recent history that referenda are tricky. In the longer term and particularly as we look at the question of Northern Ireland, we need to think about a constitutional convention where we look at devising a new constitution for a new republic but that is the big picture. I very much agree with the Deputy about the need for that referendum and I am glad to hear the Minister of State commit to that expert group getting under way.

I wish to address participative deliberative democracy and citizens' assemblies. I really value them. I really value the process but if we are to take them seriously, we need to take them seriously. If we are to ask a group of citizens, including young people, to give of their time to make a series of recommendations, we must be serious about what we do with those recommendations. I welcome the work of Deputy Leddin and the wider joint Oireachtas committee in taking a deep dive on the recommendations of the citizens' assembly and the decision of the Business Committee to schedule this debate this evening but if I was one of the members of that citizens' assembly who had given of my time and given up my weekends, I would like to see concrete outputs from those deliberations. I do not think you can ask people to participate in good faith unless we see a pathway for those recommendations.

I would reference the fact that one of those recommendations involved putting the national biodiversity action plan on a statutory footing. This has been done so that is one area where I can go back to the members of that citizens' assembly and say "that was taken on board; that was taken seriously." Regarding calls to establish a biodiversity and nature restoration fund, that legislation was heard only last week, something that is very important from a climate and biodiversity perspective but also is also a very good piece of counter-cyclical economic policy, so I welcome that. I welcome the fact that we take items from this process and go back to the people and say we listened, took that on board and have actioned it. I have already referenced recommendations 31 and 32 around the rights of nature and the establishment of that expert group.

This also picks up on what Deputy Murphy was talking about. There have been moves by the Government to move away from the GDP model. The well-being framework and well-being accounting need to be more ingrained into our budgetary cycle, and it is something I want to see included in the summer economic statement. In the interim, we need a plug-in that makes capitalism actually pay attention to the value of nature. While that is not the ultimate solution, in response to the Deputy, I cannot wait around for the revolution and I need to take action now.

In doing that, we have to look at natural capital accounting, which is included in recommendations Nos. 42 and 43. Excellent work is being done by Natural Capital Ireland, and Professor Martha O'Hagan Luff from Trinity College Dublin came in and gave evidence to the committee. We have to make it appear on the balance sheet - what economists call externalities or people from faith communities call intrinsic value. We have to make nature matter on the balance sheet when big companies are making decisions. Although I do not particularly like quoting Joe Biden on economic policy, his idea was: "Don’t tell me what your priorities are; show me your budget and I will tell you what your priorities are." That is what we need to also do in terms of natural capital accounting.

I welcome the recommendations in this report regarding the Department of Finance review of green bonds and domestic green bonds. There is a huge potential for people to unlock investment within our own society but also to give people a sense of agency.

I particularly welcome recommendation No. 49 regarding a future generations commission or an ombudsman for future generations. We have seen the power of this model in the Welsh example. We have seen the power of the model to fulfil recommendation No. 67, which refers to the mandate of semi-state bodies, and the Minister of State also referenced public bodies. An ombudsman for future generations can make sure of the sustainability principle, which states we should not exceed the ability of future generations to live a sustainable lifestyle by how we live our lives today. A commission or an ombudsman for future generations could make sure, as has been done in the Welsh model, that that is applied not just to legislation but across public sector and semi-State bodies.

There is a wealth of recommendations here. To act in good faith with those people who gave their time to the citizens’ assembly and all future citizens’ assemblies, we have to make sure that, as an Oireachtas, we actually see a pathway so those recommendations get followed through on the floor of this House.

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