Lynn Boylan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I raise an issue I raised last week, regarding the Citizens' Assembly on Biodiversity Loss. Senator Boyhan raised the recommendations of the Dublin Citizens' Assembly on a directly elected mayor, but I have concerns about the fact the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action has been asked to review the report of the biodiversity citizens' assembly, which is an excellent report with more than 150 recommendations that go across the board in respect of all the sectors that relate to where we are suffering from biodiversity loss. Either the climate action committee needs to have more resources or, as was preferable, a special committee should have been set up, such as was done with the climate action committee, in order that we can engage with the report and give it the respect it deserves. The citizens have done an incredible job and now it deserves to be given time and respect to allow us to reflect on their recommendations. The House is being asked to recommend that the report go to the climate action committee but I think it would have been preferable to set up a special committee for it. In lieu of that, at the least, when the request comes from the climate action committee for more resources to allow us to do that work, that should be granted because this is such an important issue. On other nature restoration issues, it is deeply disappointing to hear the ENVI committee at the European Parliament could not get a majority to endorse the nature restoration law today. Biodiversity is in dire straits and we are losing species by the day. We all have to show political leadership in addressing that and reversing the trend. I ask the European People's Party, EPP, group and its Fine Gael members here to speak to the MEPs. Every Irish MEP needs to support the nature restoration law when it comes to the full parliament. It is unfortunate the EPP substituted some of the members of the ENVI committee to ensure that vote would not happen today but it cannot do that at the plenary. I encourage everybody to speak to their MEPs and colleagues in Europe and ask them to endorse the nature restoration law.