Seanad debates

Wednesday, 9 December 2020

Annual Transition Statement on Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015: Statements

 

10:30 am

Photo of Aisling DolanAisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. It was good to hear his speech. The Joint Committee on Climate Action meets every single day, so there is a huge amount of cross-party work being done. I come from the constituency of Roscommon-Galway. It is an area that has traditional industries, such as Bord na Móna. Ballinasloe is 10 km from Shannonbridge and not far from Lanesborough. The area has been affected. The phrase "Let us bring everyone with us" is easy to say but means an awful lot because many people have been left behind a little bit. The just transition fund is fantastic as it went to those particular regions to support the creation of other types of income such as the provision of funding for remote working hubs and ecotourism. All that is crucial but we must also consider what other off-farm incomes we can support. I was very happy to hear about the 350 jobs that were supported in terms of the rehabilitation scheme.

I will speak to the farming element. I come from a farming background. My Dad is a small drystock farmer who participated in the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, and most recently in the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS. We have a small section of a field where we grow natural broadleaf trees, such as oak and ash trees. It is important the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, supports smaller farmers, particularly with environmental measures. Farmers are at the heart of protecting the environment as they look after the land and maintain fields to ensure we have hedgerows and so on.

Teagasc is the research arm of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and it has done great work on methods that use less technology, such as low-emission slurry spreading, and has done analysis on ways to work together to reduce emissions. The genetics of animal breeds has been mentioned. There is so much that farming can do. We must ensure farming is part of the solution because it is a vocation like teaching, nursing and public life. Farmers are part of their communities and the farming community is the backbone of towns and villages. Therefore, we must find sustainable ways for farmers going forward.

In terms of off-farm income, there are greenways. I am very happy to see an allocation of €50 million for active travel, particularly walking and cycling. Consultations are taking place on a Dublin to Galway greenway and five routes between Athlone and Galway city are being analysed. I hope the greenway will pass by my home town because we are fighting hard for that. I see the importance of greenway to Dungarvan in County Waterford and the Westport to Achill greenway in County Mayo. One can see how much off-farm income is generated through ecotourism, which I very much support. I look forward to seeing more investment in counties to develop spurs off this national infrastructure.

In response to the comments made about public transport, I have been squashed like a lemon when travelling on trains from Galway to Athenry and to Ballinasloe. It is wonderful to have a train service and pre-Covid many people commuted daily between Ballinasloe and Dublin for work. However, many people must drive 20 miles to reach the train station in Ballinasloe or drive to Athlone because it has more frequent rail services. The standard of train services and infrastructure must be upped. Irish Rail has spoken about doing so for a long time and I would like to hear more about what investment will be made in Irish Rail. Unfortunately, there are many villages to which buses do not go. Obviously services have been reduced during Covid. How will we provide services to towns so people can access public transport to get to very important places like hospitals, work and schools? The only way people can get to the hospital in Ballinasloe is to drive. There are no public transport options for older people. I would love to see them but they do not exist currently. It is important access is considered from a regional point of view.

In terms of local authorities, wind farms generate much income, particularly offshore wind farms in which I am very interested. Local authorities need these forms of income as they are starved of income at the moment. However, I would like local authorities to invest in providing more biodiversity officers and enhance the protection of biodiversity habitats. I am part of a community group in Ballinasloe that went to the High Court two years ago to fight for the habitats directive because of the impact of a development on the low lying flood plains of a local river. We fought about the water quality and its impact, which is not being done by local authorities. I see the role of local authorities as protecting the biodiversity in habitats. Therefore, I am very interested in the development of habitats and how we protect biodiversity. In this particular location where there are food plants, we had the only sightings of the only European protected butterfly, the marsh fritillary butterfly. I refer to bogland areas previously linked to the Grand Canal and Bord na Móna boglands. We must develop and protect habitats but what investment are we putting into local authorities to do such work?

These are exciting times. We all know that no matter what party we belong to we have to do our best to combat climate change and that it is very much about bringing people with us. There are many more challenges in regional areas than in urban centres, a fact that must be taken into consideration.

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