Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an-suim ag an Aire Stáit san ábhar seo. Everyone has recognised it is an issue the Minister of State has great interest in. There is a need for him to have a great interest in it because we are not exactly where we need to be. In 2019 a biodiversity emergency was declared in this State and across this island, so it is an absolute necessity that we follow up on what needs to be done. We have a huge crisis, with significant declines in many species and habitats. There has been a 40% drop in the number of watering birds since the late 1990s. This includes mallard ducks, which are one of our most familiar water birds. Kestrel numbers have dropped by an estimated 45% and 23 of Ireland's 24 species of nesting seabirds are listed in the red or amber categories as birds of conservation concern.

Some 63% of Irish bird species are on a list of concern, with 30% on the amber list and 26% on the red list. Some 18% of the native Irish butterfly fauna is under threat of extinction and a further 15% is near threatened. Over 56% of Ireland's native plant species are in decline, with native grasslands suffering the most. Less than half our marine environments can be described as healthy and water quality needs to be dealt with also. We could spend a long time dealing with water quality and that would also relate to our treatment infrastructure, but that is for another day. We know the significant connection between climate change and biodiversity. Many of us have spoken here on the possibility for Ireland to be a wind energy superpower. We keep talking about it but the State has not done the necessary legwork to deliver it. I agree with Deputy Connolly and many others that no matter how vital the work we do is - a lot more needs to be done by this State - in an age when we are surrounded by war and profit-making by those who make armaments, it is very difficult to see how we can get to where we need to be. I suppose we deal with those parts that we can have an impact on.

I welcome the work being done in my local area, such as the community garden in Muirhevnamore which shares a space with men's sheds. It is a community facility that we hope will be able to get funding from the community recognition fund. They are allotments in the middle of a built-up estate in Dundalk. It is absolutely spectacular and we need to see more of that. I would hope there would be support for it but we need to get control of all those pieces in respect of climate change and biodiversity.

See this speech in context