Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht a theacht isteach inniu. Tá sé go deas é a fheiceáil sa Teach seo.

I see Senator Boylan is here so I shall take this opportunity to thank the entire membership of the Joint Committee on Climate Action, of which she is a member, Deputy Leddin, the Chair of the committee, and members from parties and none, who have worked night and day. I also compliment another committee member, Senator Higgins, who is seated right behind me. I compliment the environmental NGOs who are not paid to be politicians but have had a huge input into the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2020. I look forward to it being by far the best, strongest and most important Bill to come through these Houses. I acknowledge all of the hard work that has been done because I know from my colleagues, from colleagues in the other parties and the NGO sector that so much time has been put into this Bill to get it right and I look forward to the final Bill.

The revision of the climate Act 2015 results from a process of political consensus building in the last Oireachtas, which has continued in this Oireachtas with very detailed pre-legislative scrutiny. A political consensus has been important and brought all parties and none together, plus the NGO sector. It is really important that those in the NGO sector feel listened to and we take on their ideas because they are often the experts more than ourselves, as politicians. There will be major changes that we must make. We have no choice but to do so as we have a genuine emergency, of which agriculture is a big part.

I come from Clare and I am very proud of a few things that we have in the county. I have spoken before about the 328 farmers who participate in the Burren Life project. I know some of them personally, have visited the region and I am well informed about the project. It is like having 328 biodiversity officers for the Burren but they continue to farm. Such initiatives can be done, must be done and we have the solutions being practised already.

I watched a broadcast on the FBD Young Farmer of the Year competition. The top farmer for biodiversity award was won by a farmer in Cratloe, County Clare. His land has a completely different type of soil so he utilises different farming methods but he won an award for biodiversity and farming. I say all this because we will have to diversify.

The launch of the Ag Climatise roadmap today by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and his Minister of State, Senator Hackett, is only a starting point. We are only warming up and not just the planet. The roadmap is only the start and is based on 2019. In case people are worried that it is etched in stone, I can assure them that it is far from that. We face great challenges but I feel hopeful because if we do this right we will have cleaner air, happier children, healthier homes, better food, a better environment, better biodiversity and warmer homes for the most marginalised. We saw the prioritising of retrofitting for social housing and an increase in the fuel allowance. A huge amount of jobs will also be generated in this sector. Last week, the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, and the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications launched 350 jobs in the midlands to replace the ones that were lost in the peat industry. It is amazing that we will have 350 new jobs and save bogs. It is hugely positive that we can do both. It is too late for an "us and them" attitude and all farmers, bankers, politicians, NGOs and more must come together. There is no time to fight over this and we must just do it.

The green economy is very exciting for me. I see that we already have a shortage of bike mechanics in north Clare, for example. All of the greenways have generated jobs with 400 jobs created in Mayo and 300 jobs created in Waterford. These are very rural places that had nothing going on. Kilmacthomas in County Waterford is now the perfect example of an amazingly live and thriving town that was once full of empty houses. There are great plans for the town using the town renewal scheme.

All of this ties into providing a better quality of life that solves the problems of loneliness and disconnection. Let us consider transport in that regard. I often everywhere in my car but I like to travel by train to Dublin, for example. By utilising other modes of transport one is more connected to all of the life that is around. Now, more than ever, people need to reconnect with society as evidenced by people reconnecting with and meeting their neighbours during the first lockdown. While I do not think we will have time to hang out with our neighbours all of the time there is a connect when one zooms around in cars all of the time. The town of Ennis has a ridiculous level of air pollution. Therefore, we must consider what we are doing and do it better. We owe that to future generations. We are the last ones that have a chance to solve climate change before the situation becomes too grave. I remain a glass half full type of person with this initiative and look forward to the 2020 Bill with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications at the helm. Finally, I again thank the Joint Committee on Climate Action for all of the work that its members are doing.