Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I want to speak mainly about climate change.Recently our entire country shut down because of a hurricane called Ophelia. Why did it shut down? It was because we were not clear about how it would arrive. Thank God for Joanna Donnelly, meteorologist in RTÉ, who became over 20 hours the face of Storm Ophelia. She issued warnings to people around the country and urged them to batten down the hatches and take it seriously. We lost three lives, however. We did not understand the importance of this weather event until it had passed. We are surely fools if we ignore signs such as this one. Scientists have stated that such storms, flooding, hazardous weather and extreme weather events, which were called once in a lifetime events, are becoming more frequent. Why? It is because of climate change.

In the global age of Trump and climate change sceptics, we in Ireland are doing a terrific job of ignoring climate change. We see it as something only the rich fossil fuel companies have to worry about, but the pensioner in County Donegal who is still feeling the after-effects of the tail-end of Hurricane Gert and has to stock up at the front door with sandbags before she can sleep is worried about climate change, and we should join her.

In America, there is a new campaign called "We Are Still In". More than 2,500 leaders from America's city halls, state houses, boardrooms and college campuses have signed "We are still in" declarations since its initial release on 5 June 2017. This network represents more than 127 million people from 50 states, red and blue, and is demonstrating America's commitment to tackling climate change, ensuring a clean energy future and upholding the Paris Agreement. We also need to be in.

I firmly believe that, as climate is changing, it is almost hard to tell the winters from the summer. We are nearly getting to a stage where there is confusion. One does not know any more. We used to have a winter wardrobe and a summer wardrobe but now it has got to a stage where we cannot tell the difference anymore. We are on this planet. It is our only home. We owe the future to our children and we cannot give them a half used one. I firmly believe that information is crucial. We need an awareness campaign. There is definitely massive climate change and I know the Minister and those in his Department will work on it. We need to make people aware of this.

Before I finish, I will refer to Senator O'Reilly's contribution on post offices in rural areas. The funding is welcome but we need to ensure that extra services are provided by our post offices. Post offices, particularly those in rural areas, are the life and soul of this country. I hope the Minister will consider my concerns.