Another Bill I introduced and for which we fought tooth and nail was the Heritage Bill 2016. That legislation dealt with biodiversity and the hedgerows. Again, I received huge support from many of the parties here in the Seanad and our efforts encouraged a great deal of awareness among people of the issue of biodiversity decline . I remember the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation coming in and giving us support, as did BirdWatch Ireland, An Taisce and many other groups. In the Civil Engagement group, we have been active in expanding the range of issues with which the Seanad has been dealing.
I thank the Leader, Senator Buttimer, who has been very fair and good to me during the past three years. I also thank the Clerk of the Seanad, Martin Groves, Bridget Doody and all the staff who have been good and supportive. I also thank the visitors in the Gallery who have been a huge support to me. They are my friends from Tramore and Waterford and they have helped me get elected as a Member of the European Parliament, MEP. The first time I entered politics was in the 2014 European elections. I did not get elected on that occasion but I did not give up and, with the resilience and experience I built up in the aftermath of that election, I found my way to the Seanad. With the support and help of all my colleagues in the Seanad, I am going to the place where I feel I will work most effectively, namely, the European Parliament. That will be formalised on 10 July.
I am so proud to have had the honour, privilege and experience of being in Seanad Éireann. To anyone who reads the words of the transcript of these proceedings, to anyone who sees my presentation today and to everyone in Ireland who is over 18 - and I hope that in time those over 16 can vote - I say that politics can be a positive place. It can be a place of action where things happen and where people should put themselves forward. We live in a democracy and if people want change, I say that they should get involved in making the change themselves.
I look forward to being in the European Parliament and to representing the people of the 12 counties of Ireland South. I will be reporting back as often as I can so that people will know what Grace O'Sullivan, the Irish MEP for Ireland South, is doing over the coming five years.
]]>Unfortunately, I did not have the honour of signing this good legislation, because I was down in the count centre in Cork. I had to be here physically to sign it, and I could not be.
]]>The Taoiseach committed to ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, when he was elected. He has done that and it is very much appreciated. The ratification is a statement that the State will get on with the work of implementation, making Ireland accessible for its disabled citizens to ensure they can live full lives in their communities. I am aware that the Taoiseach has called together all Secretaries General for the purpose of taking a range of actions this year relating to the forthcoming budget, necessary legislation and other matters. It is imperative that he continues his leadership in that role. In his statement he did not make any reference to the ratification of the convention, yet we know he is very active on it. Will he acknowledge to the House that he is placing implementation of the UNCRPD alongside other national challenges and on the same footing?
I wish to address the situation of Israel and Palestine. Before the recent Israeli elections, Prime Minister Netanyahu vowed to annex formally the Palestinian West Bank if returned to office. A few months prior to that, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Palestine noted the rapid expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and the urgent threat of annexation. He stated:
If these further settlement steps by Israel are left unanswered by the international community, we will be driving past the last exit on the road to annexation.
It is impossible to square the international community's rhetorical support for a genuine two-state solution with its persistent unwillingness to confront Israel with any meaningful injunctions to halt and reverse these steps towards annexation.
That should make clear that time is running out, and those of us committed to a peaceful two-state solution need to show that. My colleague, Senator Black, made that case at the UN this month where she presented her Control of Economic Activity (Occupied Territories) Bill, which was resoundingly supported by both Houses. I ask the Taoiseach to reconsider his own position on that legislation in order that he represents this country to stand up for human rights and international law.
My final point is on climate change, which is an issue the Taoiseach will know is very dear to my heart. We had seven months of deliberations in terms of the special Joint Committee on Climate Action. We have a report, which is very much welcomed. I hope the Taoiseach and all Departments will get on with action in this area. In particular, I ask him to commit that he will lead action with regard to climate. I was about to say the Taoiseach will not believe this but of course he will. This week, we saw two damning reports on Ireland's climate rankings, this time from Climate Action Network Europe, which placed our country and our MEPs near the bottom of the rankings in terms of climate action. That is such a shame. We need more genuine actions when it comes to climate change and not just words. I will hand over to my esteemed colleague, Senator Higgins.
]]>We do not have a definition of the term "community" here. For me, it refers not only to rural communities but also to urban communities in our cities as well as to the community of plants and animals that live in and on our bogs. A definition of community in Ireland would serve a real purpose because we have no such definition. In our last discussion, we talked about infrastructure and strategic infrastructure development but that could be anything.
]]>The term “strategic infrastructural projects” is wide open. What does that mean? Will those behind the amendment take a look at it again and break it down into a proposal we could support? As it stands, it is wide open in terms of destruction of the habitat. A strategic infrastructural project could be an airport. It is too broad.
This amendment is potentially negative on a range of levels. Accordingly, I will not support it. If it is accepted, I will also seek to amend it on Report Stage.
]]>The community is more than just the people.
]]>Transport is the bitter pill for me. I sat on the Joint Committee on Climate Action for the past nine months until we gave birth to the report which was published last week. The greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector in Ireland are increasing and I cannot see how that will change. The Minister said we can probably agree on four basic principles. Principles are not enough with regard to climate change; we need action and we need it now.
When examining the transport system, in particular the congestion and the timetabling, many aspects of it are inefficient, ineffective and broken. For example, I refer to the Clonmel to Waterford train service. The first train leaves Clonmel at 10.38 a.m. Waterford is home to the Waterford Institute of Technology, the Central Technical Institute and a number of academic institutes, which means many people work in Waterford, yet that train leaves at 10.38 a.m. That is ludicrous but that is indicative of many other rail services in this country. We just do not have enough of them. My first request is that the Minister examines the efficiency and effectiveness of the rail network in delivering freight and passengers to their destinations in the urban centres.We agree public transport has to be increased but how exactly is the Minister going to do that? How is he going to incentivise transport in this country where people are addicted to their personalised vehicle? When I am travelling, I see individuals operating in their cars. We see an increase in investment in cars. While I welcome the investment in electric cars, we do not have the infrastructure to support that network so we have this phenomenon called charging stress, I think, where people get into a dilemma that they will not be able to reach their destination with the EV system. We need better support in that regard. My big questions relates to how we are going to bring the public to the public transport systems that are in place now, and how we can increase the numbers using public transport into the future. There has been some increase but not enough.
The Minister did not mention sea transport and I thought as an island nation and with Brexit looming that it might be an area he would address. How can we move people away from aviation and have an attractive way for people to use sea transport? There will be an increase in the freight lines with Brexit coming on. Regardless of Brexit, one of the interesting discussions I have had with people over recent months related to the mechanisms to get freight and passengers around the UK by bypassing it one way or another and having better transport mechanisms from Ireland directly to the Continent, including to France, Rotterdam Europoort or Zeebrugge in Belgium. What is being done in that regard to support freight industry and transport people by sea?
The Minister said that BusConnects will be rolled out across all major cities. As Senator Humphreys noted, Project Ireland 2040 involves regionalisation and moving away from the congestion and overpriced living in Dublin and highlights the importance of developing infrastructure in regional centres. The Minister stated the programme will be rolled out, that it will be transformative, and that the services "will be...". It is all aspirational. We start off with the principles and now we go into the aspiration. It is not happening and it needs to happen, for the climate strikers who have been outside Leinster House and outside the local authorities around the country. We need action. We do not need any more aspiration. We need that seismic shift. Senator Humphreys referred to the electrification of Irish Rail. Can the Minister show us the path from where we are now? Rather than a slow, step-by-step approach, is there a possibility for a seismic shift into electrified system? Can the Government move Irish Rail directly from the infrastructure that is in place to an electrified system within a short timeframe? We bypass an intermediate stage of continuing to use fossil fuels and go right to electric. That would show commitment to our climate change targets.
On rural bus routes, I have had a few people contact me about the circular route. They find it is not working for them in terms of efficiency and getting from A to B. If they leave from one place, they almost have to do a round trip to get to the other. It is not efficient for users and the Minister might look into how he could make it more so. On cycling, the world's largest cycling conference, Velo-city, is coming to Ireland in June. This is going to be great from a tourism perspective but also to encourage cycling. Is it possible to front some investment in advance of this conference to underpin its success? There a disparity between the number of males and females who are cycling. Would the Minister look into this and into how he could invest in increasing the numbers of girls and women cycling?
]]>It raises a number of questions for me. I wonder about the health of our oceans. Why are these huge mammals ending up in such numbers on the Irish coast? In recent weeks 1,100 dead dolphins have washed up on the coast of France which is also of great concern. What impact is sonic testing as part of oil and gas exploration in our marine environment having on these species? I have spoken in the House a number of times about the impact sonic testing has on the food chain and particularly on the zooplankton which is the base species for the different marine creatures up the food chain.
I ask the Leader to seek this information for me. Where is the Government's oceans Bill? It was promised by the Tánaiste when he was Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine in April 2016 and there is no sign of it. We have not heard about it in the House for many months. Will the oceans Bill include a comprehensive plan for an ecologically coherent network of marine protected areas, MPAs, as outlined in my motion that was debated in the House almost a year ago? We are obliged by European law to have marine protected areas designated. Descriptor 11 in Annex 1 of the EU marine strategy framework directive covers ocean energy and noise, meaning that in order for our waters to be considered in good environmental status "Introduction of energy, including underwater noise, is at levels that do not adversely affect the marine environment."
Can we honestly say this is the case in our country? Can we say that the offshore gas and oil exploration is inherently compatible with the commitments we should have to protect our seas and ocean? Are we making a mockery of our commitments under the Paris climate agreement because this all relates to climate change? I would like answers to these questions. I do not ask for a Minister to come to the House because, to be honest, I do not know which Minister to ask to come. These questions fall across so many Ministers in different Departments. I just seek answers to my questions to give me some kind of lead as to where to go next.
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