Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It falls to me to welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank him for bringing forward this motion, which is in line with a commitment made in the programme for Government. It follows from a successful approach to dealing with matters that have been sensitive and often difficult to grapple with at a political level for a variety of reasons.

I always had concerns about citizens' assemblies until such time as they became really important and were fruitful. I had always questioned, perhaps as an observer before I was directly involved in politics, why on a daily basis politicians elected by the public are unable to deal with what are often complex matters. Of course it has nothing to do with the intellectual capacity of the individuals and more often it is a question of finding a difficulty in grappling with matters that appear from time to time to run contrary to where public opinion is perceived to be at.

The citizens' assemblies, and particularly the recent example relating to the repeal of the eighth amendment, have demonstrated that the public had moved very considerably ahead of the political mindset. We had various different debates in this House and the one across the corridor in believing a particular position and, ultimately, this was not in tune with the public. Whatever my misgivings may have been about running parallel systems of debate on important matters, these assemblies have found a role and way of assisting the political process in addressing complex matters. This leads to an informed and insightful debate with real people who are not looking over their shoulder with an electoral mandate. They are getting an opportunity to debate in a dispassionate way with the benefit of all the information in a relatively benign environment. The outcomes we have seen so far have been positive and I have no doubt the same result will come from these proposed assemblies.

One might initially see issues relating to biodiversity as a no-brainer but of course that is not the case. No different from any required changes, there must be an element of give and take, and we see that particularly with matters around climate change generally. The question has been sold heretofore on the basis of what ultimately we cannot do and how this affects people's lives and economic activity as we know it. What is often lost in the rush to judgment by some who would seek to gain political advantage from being seen to be against something is what are the real benefits and potential opportunities.

We do not have to delve too deeply into the climate change agenda to realise the importance of addressing it now for future generations. There are also opportunities to benefit all of us in the short to medium term with the likes of green technology and jobs in the green sector. We can look to areas with which I am very familiar, which have poor land and peat, and what is happening in the midlands. What is being done around a just transition is not perfect at all but there are people who worked on the bogs and looked like they were losing their jobs harvesting peat from Bord na Móna sites who are now back reconstituting what had been degraded or lost. They are rewetting those bogs. There are opportunities in addressing questions of climate change and biodiversity. There are costs for production but there are also benefits on the other side. I do not want to be prescriptive at this stage about what might be discussed or what might be the outcome but while there are potential losses there are also potential gains. I hope with access to expert evidence, advice and information throughout the process, those wise people will reach an appropriate deliberation and outcome that will come back here ultimately for appropriate legislative proposals.

On the education side, it is long overdue that we look at and manage education. The religious orders have done an immense amount of good work in establishing our education system and without them we would not be where we are today. We must move on, nonetheless, from the system we have had and we must have a much more secular approach in the delivery of education. That will find favour with some of the religious orders. I hope we can see some significant plans and procedures coming back before us in the not too distant future. I look forward to having an input into the debate at that stage. I wish the Minister of State and all those involved well. I look forward to the deliberations and outcomes that will be presented to us in due course.