Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That is July. What we are talking about here are the MPAs. I will be pressing my motion because I believe we need to do this and show leadership. Here we are once again not taking action with regard to climate change. We are talking and talking. We are an island nation on the western fringe of Europe and we have more territorial waters than many states. We really have something so valuable and we can stand up and show leadership in this area. The Government is just pushing it down the road and it is not going to happen. We can get on with this.

I urge the Minister of State to accept the motion and recognise the unprecedented pressures on the marine environment. We are the laggards again. Only 2.3% is designated as marine protected areas. We have an obligation to have 10% by 2020. That is in 17 months. It is not going to happen if we sit here and listen to the Minister of State's proposals to kick the can down the road. The motion is solid, timely and ambitious. What are we as a nation if we do not have ambition? Let us set the agenda with regard to our marine environment. We are an island nation and a great marine territory. Let us do something today to support the communities around the coast of Ireland and all the communities in Ireland that have a connection with the seas, as Senator Higgins has said. Let us take a position as a nation. Let us support my motion and show the people that we have determination to move on the OSPAR MPAs.

I am fully in support of what the Minister of State says about stakeholder engagement. I understand that we need robust scientific analysis. I attended that meeting last week in Passage East in Waterford. There were four members of the public there along with some public representatives. The person leading out on it told us that in Wexford, three people attended. Where is the engagement and the communication with stakeholders? It is not happening. What I witnessed in Passage East was a box ticking exercise. Essentially, the Government's agent was there to inform the very few people who attended.

These are coastal villages and the meeting should have been teeming with community members but there was no-one there. It was such a small group and mainly composed of public representatives. We were told that this is a process and that it will take at least nine months to get a report. The report will have to come before the House and then will have to be discussed further. Where are we going with our commitment to our environment, particularly our marine environment? We are so rich in this resource and so lucky. Why not take the action today and do something positive? I understand there is strategic development and we will feed into the process. With regard to OSPAR MPAs, let us do it today.

I thank Senator Paul Daly and his party. It was Fianna Fáil which committed Loch Oighinn to a marine reserve. It is a tremendous reserve. It was Charles Haughey who created the marine sanctuary in our waters for cetaceans.