Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

The climate and biodiversity crises are utterly linked and cannot be underestimated. This is often overlooked and siloed in different parts of the Government. Rather than taking a whole-of-government approach it often seems that parts of the Government do not talk to each other at all. I recall one unit in the Department of housing proposing that hill farmers fence-off all watercourses, an action that the National Parks and Wildlife Service for which would never give the required consent. It is symptomatic of an approach to both crises where the Government mandates without due consideration of other impacts, whether emissions, biodiversity, family-farm incomes, fuel poverty or poverty generally. That is one reason it is regrettable that during the last CAP negotiations the Government did not throw its weight behind Sinn Féin’s proposals that eco schemes would be a new third pillar of the CAP, crucially with a new funding model. Instead, farmers were asked to do more to secure the funding that was already in place. To assist our farmers to meet the challenges they face in the years ahead, I encourage the Government to seriously consider Sinn Féin’s proposal to establish a €300 million national restoration fund. If the Government wants farmers to do more, we should once and for all stop asking them to foot the bill for climate action from their already small margins.

Dwindling European funds for regional development have already damaged our ability to abate biodiversity loss at local level. Over many years local development companies across the State have run incredible programmes to protect and enhance biodiversity. However, their ability to do so has been hampered by a shrinking budget which has not been restored to the levels that were in place before the financial crisis. In Monaghan the annual allocation is only 10% higher than it was under the programme from 2014 to 2020. Inflation during that period has wiped out that small increase twofold, meaning a real term loss for local development companies. I appeal to the Government that, as negotiations on the new EU budget gather pace, it should support farmers and our local development companies and argue for a reversal of the cuts it has overseen for the past 15 years.

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