Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat. At least I have the opportunity to continue as a European parliamentarian in the Seanad, if not in the European Parliament. I thank the Cathaoirleach very much for his kind thoughts. I am very happy to be still in this House and to be able to use this Chamber.

I agree with the sentiments expressed by Senator Ardagh, who raised concerns about spoiled votes. They would not have affected my results, but there was clear confusion among many voters. In addition, issues with the EP1 form denied many European citizens from other European countries who live here in Ireland their vote. The case for an electoral commission has never been clearer.

I also refer to the issuing of licences to drill off the south coast - drilling which, as we know, is happening this week, even in the wake of a green wave and the declaration of a climate emergency. The former Minister, Deputy Naughten, has made it clear that he believes there should be a cessation of the issuing of licences. During my travels in recent weeks, I had the opportunity to sit on panels with a number of members of the current and former Governments who were grilled and questioned about their decisions regarding the issuing of oil exploration licences or the expansion of oil and gas exploration. The responses often rang very hollow, but however hollow they were, they will be nothing compared with the justification by anyone in this Government, in some future room, in response to some question from his or her constituents, of the decision to continue with, and to expand drilling, after what we know now. Frankly, there will be no justification. Deputy Naughten is rightly coming out to say we need to hold off and stop these licences because he knows they are not justifiable, and every member of this Government and all those who agree to these decisions will have to stand over the indefensible.

I have previously stated the issues of biodiversity and climate change are linked, and this is one of the clearest examples of how a divide-and-conquer approach can be used to set us backwards. As I understand it, in deciding to issue the licence to drill, no climate assessment was carried out; there was simply an assessment of the impact on the marine biology of the Porcupine Basin. Of course the significant impact on marine biology is bad, but it was not considered bad enough to delay drilling. Climate impact will be assessed later, when extraction begins, but of course the environmental damage will have been done by then. It is very simple. In making a decision about oil and gas exploration, the obvious answer should be "No", but if one proceeds, an environmental assessment should assess both the ecology and the climate impact at every stage. I say this as someone who is very passionate about these issues, as the House will be aware. These will be debating points in the future, and I urge the Leader to convey to the Government at this point that it is not too late for it to reconsider these options. Let us not double down on this. As Deputy Naughten said, we know that the arguments regarding our resilience and our vulnerability no longer stand up. Let us take action on this. It is a small action to take and an opportunity to send a signal this week that the Government has listened to the people.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his kind words.