Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for attending. We have heard the phrases "once in a lifetime storm" and "unprecedented extreme weather event" so many times in recent years. We know these are not isolated incidents. For children growing up today, this is just the norm and their new reality. What was once considered rare is now a frequent weather event. All of us in this room acknowledge that climate change is driving that. We have to take that into account when planning and building resiliency in communities. For children and young people growing up today, there is a sense of fear for the future. There is worry and a sense of hopelessness. We need to take action to redress that and build resiliency.

The warming planet means more unpredictable weather patterns. This is not just bad luck; it is a direct consequence of climate change. We have heard from others that weather events happen all the time but we are having more of them.

Communities across Ireland are being affected but rural communities are disproportionately affected. Rural communities are being left behind amid a range of issues they are facing: power cuts lasting weeks; impassable roads; elderly residents; and people who are sick and not getting the support they need. In my area on the Carlow-Kilkenny border, the Defence Forces were brought up for a resident during the snow storm. We need to be proactive rather than reactive. I feel like we are taking a reactive approach all of the time to these incidents. We have heard about fixing telecommunication lines. We need to sort out our farmers, who are bearing the brunt and on the coalface of climate change. We need to support them to develop resiliency and local climate change adaption projects.

Senator Brady mentioned the ESB. That was an important point. We should not be pushing the fixing of this onto consumers. That is not a credible option or solution.