Mal O'Hara (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise a matter of deep disappointment. A news story has broken in the North that the Sinn Féin finance Minister, Caoimhe Archibald, MLA, has rejected all climate change funding bids from her ministerial colleagues - every single one of them. We await the detail of those bids from freedom of information, and we know about the perilous state of finances in the North and, of course, the terrible climate-biodiversity record of the Northern Ireland Executive parties. It is easy, and it is often their refrain, to point at the big island next door and blame the Tories. I accept that austerity, Tory ideology and over a decade of cuts have certainly played their part, but surely there must be some culpability for parties that have been running the place for 26 years. Surely, with 26 years in and out of government between the five-party Executive, those parties must bear some responsibility for both the perilous state of finances and their environmental record.

As for that environmental record, Northern Ireland is the 12th worst place in the world for species loss. We emit the highest per capita emissions on these islands. Zero of our 495 rivers, lakes and coastal plains meet a good standard. We have the largest illegal dump in western Europe, with no investigation into how it happened, despite the Assembly agreeing a Green Party proposal for a public inquiry. That is before we talk about stagnating recycling rates, air pollution deaths and nitrates in our soil. Our environmental record in the North is shameful. Can we look to the big island and blame all that on the Tories? I do not think we can. We have to accept some local culpability for Ministers who have been in and out of government for 26 years.

I raise this issue today in this House because we know that joint action on climate and biodiversity in both jurisdictions of this island is imperative. The climate and biodiversity crises do not recognise man-made borders. We know this island is a single biodiverse unit and we must address, on an all-island basis, the issues of energy transformation, species loss, water and air pollution and transport revolution in order that fewer people are reliant on private cars. The Executive in the North must be our key partners in this approach, and that is why I raise this today in this House. Unfortunately, 108 days in from a returned Executive, there is no programme for government, no finalised budget, despite it being the end of May, and no legislative schedule. Today, we hear that the Sinn Féin finance Minister has rejected a measly £28 million for climate change projects. That is the paucity of ambition from the Northern Executive on taking climate change seriously, and that is the response of a Sinn Féin finance Minister. I try to remain the optimistic hippy but today I find it hard to be.