Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to the House. With regard to today's newspapers, I thank the Minister, Deputy Ryan, for his announcement and approval of the €1.46 million for the Royal Canal greenway, which relates to the mid-Shannon wilderness eco-park project. It is a fantastic project being promoted by Longford County Council and is covered in all of the media today. It highlights and ties in with our conversation in terms of greenways, blueways and extra employment opportunities which have been promised as a result of the follow-through of this legislation.

We have to look at alternatives, especially in rural parts of this country and where people can develop other soft, support industries to supplement their agriculture. I am speaking as a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine but I am also a professional horticulturalist and hugely committed to the green and environmental way. I thank the Oireachtas joint committee for the enormous amount of work it has done, across the House.

I also thank the environmental activists, the people who joined the Minister's party in large numbers. They became politicised by their involvement in the environmental area and found a political home within the Green Party. There have been difficulties for some of them. I know many of them personally. I hope they do not all give up heart. I say to people, stick with it. None of us gets everything through, but we should stick with it. We have to be realistic.

Deputy Eamon Ryan is the Minister today because of the mandate the people of this country, especially young people, who came out in vast numbers in the last general election to support the Minister, his party, its manifesto and its ambition. That is the reality of it and we have to work with that and I am happy to work with that too. I refer to the pragmatism of his party and its members and supporters and those in the environmental sector who had to take a leap of faith but stuck with it and continue to be involved in environmental activism.They are the people who have championed this Bill and I acknowledge that because it is important. Many of those people involved are personal friends of mine and I have worked with many of them. It was interesting that this morning's national papers covered the strategic environmental assessment report. For people who do not know, they should be aware that it was published today in relation to this Bill. There is a consultation process ongoing here and that is particularly important.

I thank the committee for its work. As a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I welcome the importance put on the ambition to find alternative sources of income and an alternative space for people in agriculture. Farmers will have to be substantially financially supported, as I have said before, to assist in the just transition. The Minister has acknowledged this, and it is something that must be highlighted. Recently, the Taoiseach spoke of the importance of the tens of thousands of jobs potentially coming out of this just transition, this climate action Bill. He spoke about new green jobs and increased employment in agriculture, and I welcome that.

Farmers also know that climate change is inextricably linked to their work, their life. Farmers have ambitions too, let us not forget that, not just to produce food but to do so in a sustainable and a productive manner. As I said, farmers will need substantial financial supports, but the just transition in itself is not an option, it is not an add-on. It is an absolutely essential and legally binding obligation of Ireland's adoption of the Paris Agreement.

I also thank the Minister and the Government for the amazing policy document on Our Rural Future. Sometimes we get lost in aspects of Government policy but this is a critically important aspect. What I really like about this document is that it contains the sustainable development goals. It is one of the first documents I have seen that in the margins of every action, the sustainable goals are ticked off throughout the document. That is important and it should be in every Bill we go through.

There are important things happening and there are difficulties. It was disappointing - I want to acknowledge that here - that Deputies did not get the real opportunity they wanted. However, that is another House and I am not a Member of Dáil Éireann. I have prepared a number of amendments which I hope we will have the time to debate. I hope we will not leave in a few weeks' time and say that the Seanad did not have the opportunity to voice its concerns. Let us not lock people out from debate and dialogue. Let us bring them with us. I know the Minister will be interested to hear us. I hope and expect - I am confident enough in the Minister - that he will give us a good hearing. However, for Ministers to come into this House, as so many do, and say "No, no, no" and read scripts, it is very disappointing particularly when one is in the minority and in opposition. The Minister and Senator Martin stood up for long enough and saw what happened.

In wrapping up, I refer to the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. It presents significant opportunities and the Government is at the table and, indeed, our Minister is heading to Luxemburg in the coming days. It is important that we strike a tough and a hard bargain in getting additional resources to support our farmers to change course in a more sustainable way for certain practices that are of critical importance to farming.

A mere 2% of land used in agriculture here is for organics. We need to drive organics through education, knowledge transfer, apprenticeships and partnerships. We must be much more ambitious in relation to organics in agriculture, horticulture and, indeed, in forestry.