Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

It is a week today since Manchán Magan passed from this world. I take this opportunity to remember him and reflect on a truly incredible person. In the past week, we have heard people who knew him well tell stories about him and talk about their respect for him and gratitude for the work he did and how he touched their lives. I did not know him. I only met him once at a talk he gave at the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray. The talk lasted an hour and a half and was about rewilding your mind. He spoke as Gaeilge and as Béarla, and he had the audience completely transfixed. In science, we talk about how when we learn, our brains create synapses and connections. That is how our brains work. Manchán could achieve the same thing with his words. When he spoke, he created connections from the present day to our ancestors, our past, our landscapes, our nature and our culture and, indeed, other cultures. At a time when people across the world are increasingly divided, he showed how ancient cultures were connected and how they were all the richer for that. Particularly important for me was that - and I was appreciative of it - he completely understood nature and where we stand in relation to it. We are part of nature. We do not stand above it. That is how many indigenous cultures think about nature, and we have forgotten that. Therefore, I wanted to remember Manchán today. He was a gift to our nation. There is a responsibility on us to take the work he did and move forward with it strongly. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.

On that note, the Government has closed its eyes to nature and the environment. Instead of seeing us as part of nature, it sees us as something above it. It sees nature as something to win over, fight, control and make profits from and the budget was a perfect example of that. Let us look at the €85 million allocated in respect of the bovine TB eradication programme. A large proportion of that will be for badger culling, when all the evidence from the UK and Scotland shows that it does not make a difference in the eradication of bovine TB. The document refers to rivers as channels, something the OPW is given money for. They are invested in to try to engineer our way out of climate change, climate impacts and flood risk, rather than looking at nature as part of the solution.

The Minister for agriculture spoke about how retaining the nitrates directive is his number one priority, despite the fact that it has had a huge impact on our landscape and our rivers. A mere 20 rivers are in pristine condition, versus 500 rivers in the 1980s. We have seen a 90% drop in our salmon populations since the 1970s. One third of our wild species are threatened with extinction and 63% of our birds are in decline.

I take this opportunity to say, in memory of Manchán Magan, because I think it is something he would have appreciated and felt strongly about, that it is foolhardy to think we can continue to live the way we do. The Government cannot continue to govern the way it does. We need to respect nature. Nature is not something to be exploited It is to be lived with in a sustainable manner. We have not done that for many decades. What we are seeing is a continual degradation of nature in this country. At what stage will we say that enough is enough and that we need now to protect and restore nature? There is a different way. We do not have to destroy nature as we grow. There is a way to grow sustainably with it, but it is important that the Government take the lead in this regard. I hope the Government will take those lessons, and those from Manchán Magan, forward.

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