Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 12 Jun 2024

Mar Chathaoirleach Seanad Éireann, is cúis mhór áthais é dom bheith ábalta fáilte a chur roimh iarBhall Seanad Éireann agus iarUachtarán na tíre, Máire Mhic Róibín, chuig an Seanad inniu.

This afternoon, we are joined by students from the Gaelscoil in Athlone. I welcome the students from rang a sé, who are here this afternoon, and thank, in particular, Rose Playman, who has completed a project on the former President, Mrs. Robinson.

I congratulate Rose. It is a great joy for her to be able to meet former President, Mrs. Mary Robinson, this afternoon. I thank Senator Garvey for her proposal to allow us, as Seanad Éireann, to invite and listen to our iar-Uachtarán address us. As agreed on 21 May, it is my pleasure, as Cathaoirleach, to welcome Mrs. Robinson back to Seanad Éireann, which is, perhaps on one level, her spiritual home.

As Members will know, Mrs. Robinson is no stranger to any of us in Seanad Éireann and the Oireachtas. She was a Member of this House from 1969 to 1989. During her time, she has been a courageous champion and advocate for social change in our country. At a time when many others refused or were afraid, Mrs. Robinson was that champion. Family planning, divorce and the decriminalisation of homosexuality were all issues she championed. As Members will know, there was no social media at that time in Ireland but that did not mean Mrs. Robinson was immune from criticism from many quarters for her being a champion of social change. Thankfully, she persisted in her campaigns, her articulation and in her views to bring change to Ireland. As politicians, we know, when you take a stance and stand for something, it comes, some time, at a price.

First, I wish to thank Mrs. Mary Robinson for her work as a Senator. Second, I thank her for her work as Uachtarán of Ireland. She was our first female President, but she was also outstanding in that office. She took her presidential oath to heart to dedicate her abilities to the service and welfare of the people of Ireland. She did not just travel to the four corners of Ireland but across the world as a proud Irish person, taking the message of Ireland and its people to parts of the world where we made a huge impact. Her Presidency and her life as a public servant have been creative and imaginative. As students of politics, we must admit that in her role as Uachtarán na hÉireann, she transformed the role of the Presidency and revitalised it in a lasting way. In her role as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, she gained international recognition and was known as an outspoken voice dedicated to the investigation and the exposing of human rights abuses around the world and for standing up for the human rights of people. In 2007, she was a co-founder, along with Mr. Nelson Mandela, of The Elders, which is an independent group of global leaders working for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet. Travelling in the American continent in particular, she became aware of the way in which climate change was undermining the livelihoods of indigenous farmers and other poor communities. Rightly, Mrs. Robinson identified the climate crisis as the issue of our time because, as she said, every issue we care about is a climate and nature issue.

It is on this issue today, at the proposal and behest of Senator Garvey, we are inviting Mrs. Robinson to address Seanad Éireann. I thank Senator Garvey for her role in the Inter-Parliamentary Union for her great work in promoting the issue of climate change and for us, as parliamentarians, taking a lead on that. Gabhaim comhghairdeas leis an Seanadóir Garvey as an méid sin. It is my pleasure and privilege, as Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann, to invite our iar-Uachtarán, Mrs. Mary Robinson, to address Seanad Éireann.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. Tá an-áthas orm a bheith ar ais. It is an honour to address the Seanad again. I am going to speak personally, passionately and from the heart. I hope, as iarUachtarán na hÉireann, nothing I say will be politically divisive. I do not wish to cause any trouble as that would not be right. While I will not cause any trouble, I am going to speak from the heart and I hope what I say will resonate with all of you.

I wish to speak to two places in which I have been recently and what I have learned there. At the end of May, I was in São Paolo in Brazil, for two reasons. The first reason was a meeting of the Planetary Guardians. It was followed immediately by a meeting of The Elders, which is held twice per year. At the moment, as Members know, I am chair of The Elders. However, it is the meeting of the Planetary Guardians on which I particularly wish to focus. I am one of the 19 global planetary guardians of the nine planetary boundaries, reflecting the work of the climate scientist, Professor Johan Rockström from the Potsdam Institute in Germany. I will not go into detail on those nine boundaries as I am not even sure if I am able to describe them utterly correctly. They give a much broader sense of the threats to the ecosystems which sustain us rather than just talking about climate and nature. Those boundaries are the whole of that which gives us the liveable system we have had as human beings for thousands of years. We are endangering it with our emissions which are changing the climate in a very serious way.

The good news is we have actually been able to retrieve one of those planetary boundaries which was in the danger, namely, the ozone layer. Approximately around 1985, scientists said the ozone layer was opening to such a degree that it was going to fry us because of the chemicals we were putting up. The world got very frightened. Every country signed up to the Montreal Protocol and we closed the ozone layer. We have actually been very successful since then in keeping the ozone layer from being a danger to us. However, in six of the other nine planetary boundaries, which include, of course, climate, nature and oceans, we are in serious danger. We are in some danger. At that meeting, we had the benefit of absolutely up-to-date expertise on the climate issue from Professor Johan Rockström, who I have mentioned already, and from a Brazilian scientist, Dr. Carlos Nobre, who is also one of the guardians. They made presentations which were actually quite scary. They showed us how the world is heating to a degree that it has never done before and how the oceans are warming very dangerously and becoming acidic. We are at very big risk. They made it clear we have no more than six years to radically change course. If we do not do so, nature may turn against us and we may be into, what is called, tipping-point territory. No scientist wants to go there. In fact, when I talked to Professor Rockström and Dr. Nobre, they almost had tears in their eyes because they were so stressed by the situation as it is today. That is true of every climate scientist I know - and I know quite a few of them. They are at the edge of their own personal stress levels because they know how serious it is. They are trying to convey this to us and trying to make sense of it. Basically, they say we have just tipped above 1.5°C a few times this year. Scientists do not call it "breaching 1.5°C" because that must be done for approximately a decade, at least, before it is "breached", as such. However, tipping 1.5°C is very serious and they explained that the difference between 1.5°C and 2°C is really very serious. Probably, in that time, the coral reefs will disappear. It is very likely the Arctic ice will entirely melt and change the whole system of the gulf stream and everything else that affects us because the Arctic and the Antarctic are very connected, The permafrost will melt and throw up both carbon and methane. Methane is more dangerous and there is a lot of it beneath the permafrost. They made it clear we need to move urgently.

Dr. Carlos Nobre was particularly interesting on the Amazon. He said that at the moment, as we know, the Amazon is largely a very big sink that helps us and cools the world. However, there are parts of the Amazon already that are showing they are actually contributing to carbon. If the whole of the Amazon were to contribute to carbon, that itself would also be extremely serious. I came away from that meeting in Brazil with a real sense that everybody, not just governments, opposition and parliaments but human beings all over the place and local communities, should be in crisis mode. If we reach tipping point territory, we will make it far more likely that future generations will have an unliveable world. It will start with the poorest countries and their people will move in their millions. It is predicted that more than 1 billion people may move by 2050. That is a very serious way in which we have to look at the world.

My second visit was more recent. It was last week, on 5 and 6 June, just before the local elections. I attended the second Mary Robinson climate and nature conference in my home town of Ballina. As with the previous year, it was a remarkable gathering of people who are passionate about tackling the climate and nature crisis with actions. It included academics from Ireland and Europe who are experts on climate and nature. There was a huge buzz for the two days and people were interacting well with each other. There was a surreal sense of the power of doing good. There were all kinds of wonderful organisations. I am having an elder moment trying to remember the names of some of them. There was Hometree, for example, an organisation that is planting trees. All kinds of organisations came. Local authority representatives came from different parts of the country.

It reminded me very vividly of early 1990 when I was nominated by the Labour Party and ran as an independent candidate to seek the votes of people around Ireland. I got to know a bit about the country in a very interesting way because in 1990 the Common Agricultural Policy provided some money to rural Ireland. That money was going into towns and villages but they did not have the facilities the cities had. What people were doing was volunteering. As some of you who are old enough - though you all look very young to me - may recall, there was a very big movement of local self-development, the spirit of "meitheal". I heard it all over the place. Meitheal clubs and getting together to help get facilities for children, sports facilities and facilities for people with disabilities and the elderly in these towns and villages. It was an extraordinary time and as I talked that up, it helped me to gain support. We know how these things work.

During my stay in Ballina I was of course given a copy of the Mayo County Council climate action plan 2024 to 2029. The Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021 requires all local authorities to provide action plans, so I assume other local authorities also have them. From reading it, it is a very positive action plan except there is no funding for it. It would be an action plan if we got the funding for it. That is the problem. If we got the funding, we could do this and that would give rise to various possibilities.

We know that as a country we are in trouble as regards our climate responsibility. Senators will recall very recently that the latest Environmental Protection Agency carbon emissions projections out to 2030 show Ireland is likely to achieve just 29% of a reduction compared with the commitment and legal requirement of 51% set out under legally binding carbon budgets up to the end of the decade. Ireland is on course for a 29% carbon emissions reduction, not 51%. I do not want to get political but I did not hear that figure at all during the local elections. I was waiting for somebody to mention it but I did not see it mentioned anywhere. We just had our elections but nobody wanted to know. Nobody wanted to think about it or say it. It is not easy because people want to get re-elected and that is why we have to change everything. That is where I really feel we need to think about how, as humans, we make progress. How do we make change? We need a much more positive narrative. What we face at the moment, because we are not meeting our requirements, are multibillion euro compliance costs and fines from the EU under our EU obligations. Imagine paying multibillion euro fines to the EU because Ireland is not on course. It is rubbish. It is ridiculous. Why do we not realise we need to spend money to incentivise the doing now? We need to have a very positive narrative of moving faster.

I am involved with a lot of women leaders now who are involved in the climate space. They are leading climate activists, climate organisations and in their governments, etc. We have Project Dandelion and Senators will see I am wearing a big dandelion. It is a symbol which is very useful because the dandelion, which we know in this country as a weed, is also a beautiful flower. It grows on all continents and is very resilient. You cannot get rid of the damn things if you want to and most of us have tried. It is also very good for the soil because of its deep roots. It regenerates the soil. Every part of the dandelion can be eaten or drunk. Even the roots remove toxins from the human body. Dandelions are spread by blowing, and children blow the seeds. The dandelion is a symbol. I learned the power of symbols when I had the honour to be Uachtarán na hÉireann. I put a light in the window of the kitchen of Áras an Uachtaráin which could be seen from the road that goes through the Phoenix Park. That light took a light of its own and in the early nineties helped to shape an Irish diaspora and to link those who had to emigrate from Ireland with us in Ireland and us with them as being a wider family. I gave a speech to both Houses about the Irish diaspora. I was criticised for using this new word that nobody was using but we got used to it and we now know how important that link is. That was a light.

We are using the symbol of a dandelion to gather in all of us who are on the plus side, if you like, working on this issue. I am talking more globally now but what if we did this in Ireland? What if we went back to the spirit that was there in 1990 of local self-development to change from what we are doing now to what it will take to get to that 51% by 2030, just thinking about it and working at it at every level? What Mayo County Council produced as a plan for 2024 to 2029 looks great except it is not funded and I am sure every local authority has the same issue.

Then there are all the voluntary bodies and groups that are already coming together. One of the experts in Ballina said, and I think this is true, that we are a very social people. We can actually mingle very well with each other and collaborate very well. Sometimes we do not but, by and large, we have the capacity to do so. I literally saw that when I was running for election in 1990. I saw the way groups were changing things to get facilities for young people, sports, the elderly and people with disabilities. Now we need to change to a positive narrative.

Let us have a look at what that narrative is because it is true. We are on the cusp of a clean-energy, healthier, safer, cleaner and fairer world. We are on the cusp of that. Millions of us around the world in different ways are moving towards it but we are not moving fast enough. One of the big impediments to moving fast enough is what we call the "fossil fuel lobby". The fossil fuel lobby is an impediment in two big ways. First, it gets subsidies to continue to provide a fuel that is harming the world, whether it is coal, oil or gas. In this country it was turf - or peat - and we are getting out of that.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an iarUachtarán. Thank you for your wonderful, imaginative and creative voice in challenging all of us. Again, the former President demonstrated by her address and by Project Dandelion that she is not afraid to take a stand on radical change. We commend her and thank her for her address and for her example.

We now move to contributions by Members who have six minutes each. They can be group leaders or nominees and time may be shared. An chéad chainteoir eile ná an Treoraí, the Leader, Senator Chambers. She has six minutes.

I am sharing time with Senator O'Loughlin, three minutes each.

The former President Mary Robinson is most welcome to the Chamber. It is fantastic to have a fellow Mayo woman address us today. I am proud as a Senator to have an opportunity to respond to her address in a Chamber where she once served before going on to become Ireland's first female President. We often hear the phrase "you cannot be what you cannot see". By taking up that most prestigious role, President of our great country, she became an invaluable role model for young women and girls across Ireland. I thank her for that.

One of her most famous quotes has always resonated strongly with me and it is a very powerful line. She said "I was elected ... by the women of Ireland ... who instead of rocking the cradle rocked the system". She did just that and continues to do that today as she takes her fight to addressing climate change and protecting nature not only to Ireland but around the world. Addressing climate change can often feel hopeless. One of the most important things we must do as leaders in our communities and countries is give people hope. When Mrs. Robinson says we have six years until we reach a tipping point, we must acknowledge, as she has, that we will not meet the climate emissions reductions targets we set by 2030. Those figures are stark, yet we see a hyper focus on individual actions and big industry and the oil companies - Mrs. Robinson referred to them as the fossil fuel lobby - are left to continue on as always. It is business as usual. How can we realistically tackle climate change if we do not tackle the big polluters, the fossil fuel industry?

Mrs. Robinson also touched on migration, a topic we have discussed at length in this Chamber and outside its doors. She said that almost 1 billion people could be migrating by 2050. Why does this not move governments, not only in Ireland but across the European Union, to do more? We have seen the pressure migration is putting on systems and countries across the world, yet we do not intend to clamp down strongly on the big polluters and we are facing down the barrel of mass migration because of climate change. The elephant in the room is energy production. How do we power our industries, businesses and farms and how do we fuel our homes? We need to invest heavily in renewables and advance the technologies we have. We need to harness the power of offshore wind. The second best wind corridor in the world is sitting off the west coast of Ireland, yet we have not even moved to start mapping our coastline. Scotland finished mapping its coastline three years ago. Our semi-State company, ESB Networks, is investing in an offshore floating project in the UK, not in Ireland. Why is that? We also have a massive fund in the REPowerEU platform at a European level that we can tap into but we are not doing that, whereas France is. We need to start talking about green opportunities and give hope.

Mrs. Robinson mentioned the recent elections. What people are saying to me is that they are shouldering an unfair burden. I get asked what Ireland can do when China and the US, the big polluters, are doing so little. That is a job for national leaders to address. People are being asked to make major changes regarding fuel in their homes and transport and say they do not have viable alternatives. That is a matter for the national Government.

We need to give hope to people, but we need to tackle the real questions people are asking us on the doors if we want to bring them with us.

We are privileged to have the former President here to engage with her on this incredibly important area, not only of climate change but also climate justice, and to have the opportunity to engage with her on the other area she feels strongly and passionately about and has given great leadership on, namely, social change. She mentioned Judge Síofra O'Leary. Four of us in the Chamber are members of the Irish delegation to the Council of Europe. We will have the opportunity to meet Judge O'Leary next week. It is her last week, as the former President will be aware, as not only the first woman President of the European Court of Human Rights but the first Irish person also. On her last day, she will meet us about where we need to go. She is another incredible lady.

I thank her, for the leadership she showed at the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe last year. It was at that Reykjavik summit she chaired a high-level reflection group of seven wise people from around Europe to discuss Europe being at a crosswords, where we need to go in terms of the rule of law, protecting democracy and human rights. Her long-term vision, commitment and political courage gave us a very strong roadmap. I was very proud to be the rapporteur on behalf of the 46 countries in the Council of Europe. Much of the roadmap that we put in place, particularly around the area of climate, democracy, and engaging with young people, which we are well on the road to, was down to the reflection and thought put into it by Mrs. Robinson. She talked about doing positive things as opposed to just using a stick.

Finally, I thank Mrs. Robinson for the Mothers of Invention podcast because by doing that with Maeve Higgins, she brought all those issues home to a new generation. I thank her for that and wish her well in the continuation of her life's work.

I welcome former President, Mrs. Robinson, back to the Seanad Chamber. As a fellow west of Ireland person, I am particularly proud to be here today to engage with her.

First, I wish to acknowledge the years and, indeed, lifetime of advocacy for social change in respect of the rights of individuals, which is exemplified in her Seanad record, and all the advocacy that has happened since then in the life-changing referendums that we have initiated in this country.

I also wish to acknowledge Mrs. Robinson's advocacy in protecting the climate. She touched on the depletion of the ozone layer. I am heading towards 50 years of age but I can remember that in the 1980s and 1990s the depletion of the ozone layer was the first big environmental issue that we heard of along with the banning of CFCs, which, thankfully, has succeeded. Initiatives to protect our environment have worked.

As part of the 2016 programme for Government, we initiated the citizen's assembly on decarbonisation, which led to the 2019 Climate Action Plan. This country has played its party in dealing with climate issues. We established carbon budgets and targets, the climate delivery board in the Department of the Taoiseach, the independent Climate Change Advisory Council, ensured the introduction of the concept of a just transition and essential climate action measures, and also ensured the Climate Action Fund was established. Mrs. Robinson is right that plans, as we have in local authorities, are not worth much unless they are followed through with funding. We are conscious of and acknowledge that more needs to be done.

I engaged with people as part of the recent local election campaign and they commented that the world is in a strange place, and there is a lot going on that is having an impact, which is resonating with a great number of people. One would also hear from people over the last period, particularly from farmers, that something different is happening. They might not call it climate change but they are saying the climate or weather has changed and it is not like it used to be. There is an acknowledgement that things are being impacted because of the state of the world. We, in the West, are playing our part. My difficulty is that not every country is and the larger countries are not such as the US or China. Great work has been done to remove rubbish and trash from our oceans but seven to nine countries have been pinpointed. Ireland plays a very important role as a small country but we need all countries to step up and assist.

It is an absolute honour to speak with Iar-Uactarám Mary Robinson. She is a woman from the west of Ireland on the world's stage.

Mrs. Robinson has spoken about the 1990s and the winds of change that came to Ireland. She was an inspiration to me and an inspiration to all the young schoolboys and schoolgirls who were here. She knows what it means to be a symbol, which is what she is. Earlier she spoke about the importance of symbolism. She is a symbol to us of how women can drive change and reach their potential at a time even 20 or 30 years ago when that did not seem to be the case.

I represent counties Roscommon and Galway. My comments and questions come from my background in a rural area. The representatives of the Western Development Commission have spoken very clearly about the fact that the housing stock in the west is so much older than the rest of the country. Challenges are faced by people of all ages, and particularly older people, living in old farmhouses and old homes in trying to meet insulation requirements.

One of the things that I am calling for within Government parties concerns SEAI assessors, and this is an issue that I have tried to raise in the form of a Commencement matter. It is still taking 12 months for people to get assessments done on their homes. Those assessments are necessary to retrofit and ensure these homes are insulated so that people can reduce their reliance on solid fuel. I ask about this because I come from a community where I am fighting for a just transition. I want to ensure that we have a just transition but not at the cost of people who are financially dependent on these types of fuels. We need these assessments happen more quickly.

I want to highlight another issue. In the just transition €80 million in Exchequer funding has been allocated and another €80 million has been allocated by the European Union to encourage us and allow us, particularly in the midlands, County Roscommon and in the Ballinasloe municipal district to install EV charging points. Unfortunately, the timelines are tight. I ask Mrs. Robinson for her thoughts on the matter. We were given timelines when the scheme was launched. Within a year the EV charging points were out so community groups did not have enough time to submit applications. We have just transition activation officers in each of our counties but the programme was only put in place by Galway County Council in the past couple of months. There were challenges with recruitment and finding the right people but at a cost to whom? The deadline for an expression of interest in the programme is the end of June. I ask about this matter because the programme will ensure we have more tourism and other employment opportunities for communities that relied on, and experienced change, when it came to Shannonbridge and Lanesborough.

Last, I will mention schools. As my party's spokesperson on education, I met representatives of the INTO today across the road. Solar panels are a wonderful initiative that is being rolled out to schools so that they can reduce their costs and reliance on heating. Energy is a huge cost for our schools, education, and for pupils in national and secondary schools across the country and particularly in the west. I thank Mrs. Robinson for her time.

First, our former President, former Senator and Chair of the Elders is extremely welcome to Seanad Éireann. She touched on many broad issues, including just transition; social, racial and environmental justice, indigenous climate action, community and local resilience and adaptation, natural climate solutions, and, of course, climate education and engagement. Her opening speech commenced with a reference to the global situation. When I heard that, I hoped that she would touch on the local situation because I intended to do so as it is important, and she did.

I love the fact that Mrs. Robinson has a dandelion and she has always used symbols. I am a very keen gardener so I know the potential good done by a dandelion. One thing that is said about a dandelion is that it carries a thousand seeds. I like to think that the dandelion symbolises a thousand hopes and aspirations and, therefore, the dandelion is a very apt and appropriate symbol. We should use the dandelion more as a symbol because it symbolises that from one single thought, vision or ambition that one can plant many seeds of hope. That is why the dandelion is so appropriate and I say well done.

I want to acknowledge that work that Mrs. Robinson has done on multilateralism, human rights, gender equality, women in leadership both nationally and at a European level in intergenerational dialogue. Essentially, she has realised and harnessed all of that energy around all of that to achieve her strategic goals and those of the Elders and the very many NGOs and groups whom she has worked with in the past, and up to now, in achieving sustainable impacts. I say that because that is what it is all about. It is about sustainable impact and sustainability goals.

I want to touch on a few just transition issues. I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I am also a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine and I will mention the agricultural aspects of just transition.

While we have to restructure and support incentives for farmers, farmers, particularly Irish farmers, do not see the benefit of just transition. We talked about a common agricultural policy, the greening of agricultural policy across Europe, but still our Irish farmers are not convinced of the benefits. They do not see the tangible benefits. Over 50% of our farm families have to go off farm to supplement their income. That is linked to just transition because it is not just by choice.

Our farmers, foresters, growers, fishers and food producers want a clear pathway by this Government and by the European Union as to how they will be supported by just transition, which in turn feeds into climate justice, tackling the environmental challenges around us. They want reassurances regarding household incomes, their farm incomes. They want fair employment opportunities in the production of food. They want fair pricing. I acknowledge Mrs. Robinson's work on that. If we are to have sustainable, good nutritious food, it needs to be paid for and we need to talk about that. We need to work with the trade unions, the employers, the co-operatives, the growers and the farming associations about that and how it relates to farm income which is also important.

As Mrs. Robinson is here and is a focus of attention, I will use this opportunity to take advantage of that focus of attention. I ask her to bring back to The Elders and all her contacts in Ireland, Europe and globally the message that we need to refocus on sustainable and viable rural communities which are dying in this country. We need to include the farming activities that contribute to sustainability. We often hear that farmers are the custodians of our land and our rural communities. I agree that they are. I accept that they want to play a real part in all of that but they want to be supported because they need to have viable incomes to sustain their livelihoods and they also wish to live in rural Ireland. They acknowledge the impact of nutrients in the soil, such as the leaching into our waterways.

Many people will have heard of the EPA report on "Morning Ireland" today. It is not all about farming, agriculture, forestry and horticulture. Mrs. Robinson mentioned peat and we see the devastating challenges relating to peat for the production of salad crops in Ireland and the production of mushrooms, of which we export 90%. That is a great success and we want to sustain that. Teagasc and the Department of agriculture are doing great research into an alternative medium for growing mushrooms. We need to work around the obstacles. As an advocate for the farming community and as a representative of the agricultural sector here, I am greatly encouraged by farmers' participation.

We need to work on greening agricultural policy more through the Common Agricultural Policy. We need to support the farm-to-fork strategy in the European Union and in Ireland. Reducing agricultural emissions will be difficult but with support, farmers will and want to play their part. I finish by thanking Mrs. Robinson. She is a living example of her work. She walks her talk. It is great to have her here today listening and sharing her vast experience on these issues with us.

I thank the ex-President Mary Robinson for coming here today. She has been a hero of mine since I was about 11. I remember the story of the contraception train coming down from the North. That was the first time I heard about her and I was completely blown away that she, Nell McCafferty and some other great women were brave enough at that time. Even now, it is still a challenge for a woman to stand up in a patriarchy to fight for things. We do not like to have to deal with menopause, breastfeeding or periods. We are still treating sanitary products as a luxury item. We have huge issues. It really blew me away to see those women 53 years ago going to the North and bringing down contraception to try to give women some ownership of their bodies again instead of constantly getting pregnant because there was no contraception available here.

It also showed me that women could smash glass ceilings. I did not really have any experience of that in my life and on the media. I just did not see it until they smashed that glass ceiling into smithereens. I really thank her for that. It gave me the impetus to run for election in a very rural area in north Clare where we had never elected a woman, not to mention a Green Party woman. When I was elected in 2019, I was proud but also embarrassed that it took that long to get a woman elected in north Clare, but we did it.

I thank Mrs. Robinson. She has played a huge part in my personal life. I want to ask her for advice. I now see that the climate and nature thing is being used as a political football. There is much disingenuous narrative; it does not make any difference whom it is from. If people were genuinely concerned about climate, the destruction of nature and the very future of our existence in this country, we would not use it as a political football. We would all have it in our manifestoes. We would all be discussing it in the Seanad every day. We would all be putting it in for budgets. Instead of what has been achieved in the last four years with 100 houses a day putting up solar panels and 1,000 houses a week getting retrofitted, we see lots of criticism that it is not enough and should have been more. If the people who are saying that had been fighting with us to get funding to do those things many years ago, we would not be in the situation we are in now.

That rhetoric deeply saddens me. We are at a crisis point and people are using it as a political football. The narrative across the country is that even though I am from a farm, I hate rural Ireland, I hate farmers, I am evil and I want to make everybody poor and suffer for the rest of their lives in cold houses. We saw that narrative in the local elections from candidates from rural areas. It is deeply saddening that it was used as a political football. As a result, we have fewer people who care about nature and climate in our local authorities. Unfortunately, many of our local authorities are still stuck in the 1980s. We are doing our people a disservice.

Many rural Independents go on about putting out the Child of Prague. We are still having that as a joke in 2024 when we saw what happened in Midleton. They all agree that it was as a direct result of climate change. It could happen in Ennis, Enniscorthy or Dublin, but it does not seem to be hitting home because instead of the green agenda being seen as a solution, it is seen as a problem. That is my big concern and that is why I wanted Mrs. Robinson in here today. How do we get people who are decision makers, whether it is local authorities, people in this House or people in the Dáil, to realise that this is no longer a game? It is too important to use as a political football to try to destroy the green voices of those who have been genuine about this for 30 years. It is affecting our children, our homes, our food and our land. All my neighbours are losing land every year to flooding. It is affecting our crops.

People will say, "It's all the fault of China and India. Sure, how can we make a difference?". That is irrelevant now. The reality of climate change is that it is affecting us on a daily basis. My big concern is that we are not taking it seriously. We see it as a thing to give the Green Party grief. I am in the Green Party so I will stand up for it. What we have done in the last four years is phenomenal but we have got such slagging. I think everybody would agree that we are the most vilified party. We are getting it from the extreme left and the extreme right, as well as from our coalition partners. They say there should be more offshore wind, more retrofitting and more solar. However, none of these parties was asking for any of this before the last general election; it was not in their manifestoes.

We got €1 million a day for active walking and cycling. There is war over that because people want to build more motorways. It is very tricky. It is not because I am in the Green Party; it is because I deeply care about nature and climate. That is the only reason I am in politics. Politics stinks. I am only here because we need to get stuff done because we are in a climate and nature emergency. We will have nothing left. One woman asked me recently how she could find a hedgehog to show her daughter. I grew up seeing hedgehogs everywhere. Now people just want to see badgers dead. We have completely lost connection with the fact that we are part of nature, we live in nature.

We need to stop blaming the Chinese and the Indians because the chickens have come home to roost. It is affecting us every day and it affects farmers. This thing about the farmers drives me mad. The small farmer is not causing any of the problems; it is the big farmer. We are not augmenting methane because it means I hate farmers. However, 90% of the methane is coming from about 5% of farmers who are rich and loaded. Yet, we hear the poor farmers are really poor and it is not fair that the Greens hate them.

We have to have an intelligent debate about this. It is too late to be using this as a political football or having low-brow, unintelligent debate attacking the only party that has ever cared. I really want to hit home how climate is affecting Ireland. It is irrelevant whose fault it is at this stage. The question is what we can do and how we have to take it seriously.

I thank former Senator and former President, Mary Robinson. It is a pleasure and honour to have her here, although at times it may have felt like she was the Leader of the House taking the Order of Business.

I welcome the former President back to the House and thank her for raising such important issues in her address. We are all so proud that her values and voice still represent us on the international stage. She has lived a life of advocacy from her involvement in the campaign to legalise contraception and divorce to enabling women to sit on juries, the decriminalisation of homosexuality and reproductive rights. The Ireland we live in today was one that she shaped, often in this very Chamber. She has always stood up not for what is popular but what is right. When I read about her time in this Chamber, it is striking how she gave prominence to people who did not have a public voice at the time. We are still very lucky to have people of her calibre in this Chamber. In particular, I mention Eileen Flynn, the first member of the Traveller community in the Oireachtas, and Lynn Ruane who has taken up Mrs. Robinson’s work on prisoner rights through her position here representing Trinity College.

As we sit here today, we are beneficiaries of Mrs. Robinson's role in the peace process at home, and her commitment to healing old wounds and leading the charge towards a closer relationship with our neighbours in the United Kingdom. She lay the groundwork for the decades long peace which has persisted on our island. That voice for peace is so important today, especially in relation to the war and displacement we see around the world, in particular in Palestine.

Mrs. Robinson has been a voice for the voiceless. That is nowhere more evident than now as she continues to speak up for the people in Gaza who face brutal bombardment, targeting of key infrastructure, blockading of humanitarian supplies and the deliberate targeting of children, hospitals and schools. This is in direct contravention of the international law which Mrs. Robinson championed as a lawyer. We were proud to see the recognition of Palestine in the Dáil in recent weeks but, as a nation, we are still to take concrete action by passing the Occupied Territories Bill as well as the arms embargo Bill. We would welcome Mrs. Robinson’s advocacy to influence this.

To return to the main theme of the address, climate change is one of the pressing challenges of our time. As Senator Garvey said, we are seeing a push-back from conservative forces on climate. Disinformation and the demonisation of people who seek to mainstream climate in our politics have come to the fore in the European Parliament elections at the weekend and we have seen a striking backlash against the jump that we made in 2019. As a social democrat, I do not see climate simply as an ecology issue but as one of social justice and human rights. It is an issue of rights and quality of life. It is one that requires global action to solve but, unfortunately, has a disproportionate impact on the world’s poorest. Every day, we see the increasing unpredictability of weather, the impacts of floods and drought and the famine and displacement that result from extreme weather conditions. Climate is also an issue of refugee rights. Now more than ever, with the voices of intolerance in Europe and Ireland, we need people who are able to counteract that. We are so thankful for the work Mrs. Robinson has done in raising this issue, not only in her interest but in the interest of future generations.

As President, Mrs. Robinson made our nation proud as a wonderful representative of a new progressive Ireland facing into a new century with hope for the future. Now, as chair of the Elders, she has brought that attitude and strength to a new level as a voice not only for Ireland but for people around the world and those facing famine, war and the lived impact of climate change.

It is a pleasure to be here with Mrs. Robinson today. When I was six years old, I met her in Rathmines Women’s Refuge with my mother. To be here and have my picture on the wall next to her and other great women here in the Seanad is an absolute pleasure and privilege. When someone meets a six- or seven-year-old in a refuge or homeless accommodation, they might make an assumption that they will grow up to be nothing because we do not believe that young children can grow up and be anything they want to be. In Ireland we say we want to treat all children of the nation equally but, unfortunately, that is not the case. Children are still living in poverty today. Last night, my colleague, Senator Ruane, said to me that this is bigger than climate change. There is poverty, people are dying with hunger and people are living with addiction and trauma in halting sites in areas like Tallaght, Crumlin and Ballyfermot. We need to deal with these big social issues. We have a two-tier health system in this country that often denies people from the Traveller community good quality healthcare.

We talk about the 17 sustainable goals but there are still members of the Traveller community who live without running water. There is an idea that nobody will be left behind. Unfortunately, many working-class people on the edges of society are still fighting for survival every single day. Until I came here and learned from Senator Higgins what climate justice means and had Senator Ruane explain things to me, I did not have a clue because I grew up on a halting site where the people around me had few opportunities to be successful in the world or to go to second level education. That is still an issue today and one we like to turn a blind eye to. We like to say that it is lovely having Mrs. Robinson here today but it is also a day to talk about politics. We need to ensure every child has equal access to education. I have spoken before about my little girl wanting to be a doctor when she grows up. I hope to God she has the same opportunities as any other four-year-old in this country. We are not just Travellers or poor people.

Unless we address poverty in this country, we will not address climate change. It is not that people do not care. We care and we want to care. We need to educate communities but we need to invest in the poorer communities in this country. The sustainable development goals state that nobody gets left behind and that we will put the poorest at the front but we have not seen that in practice yet.

Today is not about being negative. It is a positive day for me to be able to share my story and say that I met Mrs. Robinson in a refuge and now I am here where she used to be. She is such an inspiration. My mother used to say “Every Mary carries a cross” and would always tell the girls that they should not call their children Mary. I think Mrs. Robinson carried that cross of equality for women in this country and I want to thank her for that.

When I met Mary Robinson first it was in relation to climate justice, which is the next step from all the issues of social justice that Senator Flynn just spoke about. If we are talking about action on climate change, we need to talk about climate justice and the commitments that are in the Paris Agreement, namely, the common but differentiated responsibilities. Those are around the wealthier countries and Ireland is a wealthier country. It does not matter if there are other countries too. We have responsibilities that we are not living up to in terms of doing what we should be doing or carrying or contributing our fair share of climate finance to the countries that are worst affected and have done the least to cause climate change but are facing the most devastating impacts. We are not even giving the percentage we committed to under the sustainable development goals, let alone what is needed for loss and damage, which our actions and those of other developed countries have imposed on so much of the world.

We are not doing our part in emission reductions. It is not okay to say we are not on track, we will not make it. To be clear, we are not on track but we still need to make it. We still need to get to 51% by 2030. It needs to be in every party's manifesto. It needs to be constantly put forward by everybody. If what we are doing is not enough it will mean not just speaking to business leaders, but disappointing some business leaders and working around them. We must use every instrument we have such as the State, for example, in Mandate for Nature, when we talk about land management, as was mentioned. Coillte should have a climate mandate for that 7% of the land in the State. These are the big shifts and changes and the massive transformations which of course have to be done with justice and with giving people the supports and compensation they need. However, they need to be done fast.

The most important issue which I believe right now threatens our delivery of climate action is militarism. Two months of the assault on Gaza was equivalent to the annual emissions of 20 of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world. If we do not take action and speak as climate activists against militarism, we are at risk of seeing something so often unaccounted for in terms of its emissions, creating a devastating setback. We need the resources of the world not towards the weapons of death but indeed towards what will make our planet livable for everyone.

I welcome former President, Mrs. Robinson. It is wonderful to have her here. Her words were inspiring and really direct. She has given us a powerful message here today.

I want to address a couple of points that were made. The first one arises from the last point of my colleague, Senator Higgins. How can it be, if we are serious about addressing climate change, that there are no targets relating to the EU military in terms of carbon emissions? There is none whatsoever, even as war rages in Ukraine, even as genocide rages in Gaza. The complete disconnect and denial of the impact of militarism and an increasing militarism across Europe has to be addressed without delay.

When we speak about the climate crisis we must be clear that we must confront global warming and the methods and alternatives we must use must be inclusive and democratic. What has been missing is a just transition commission. If we are going to build that support, rebuild that energy about which Mrs. Robinson spoke, then a just transition commission will be crucial in that endeavour. We know from research carried out by my trade union, SIPTU, that only four of the 44 provisional just transition projects actually reached any kind of decent level in terms of reaching out to workers and communities themselves. Just transition is not actually happening in real terms at the minute. It is the task of all of us to ensure that happens without further delay.

I am struck by the words of the UN General Secretary, António Guterres, who once said in relation to global warming, the poor and vulnerable are the first to suffer and the worst hit. We must be committed to a fairer and more democratic society, one which protects workers' rights and empowers communities with more input and control over their future. We cannot allow corporate interests to push false solutions and misleading definitions on us, dumping the costs of climate action onto the shoulders of ordinary communities, in the same way as they dump the cost of global warming and pollution.

I want to address a couple of other issues in the time I have. The first is the fact that Mrs. Robinson has called consistently for legal pathways for refugees and migrants to come to Europe. I salute her for doing that. It has become increasingly unpopular to do so. At the heart of any honest solution to the crisis that we have in terms of refugees is allowing them legal pathways to come to Europe. A related matter I hope to tackle in the Parliamentary Assembly at the Council of Europe is the disgraceful action of Frontex, the EU border control agency. It is rightly accused of sending at least 150,000 people to detention in Libya, where they are going to be subject to rape, torture and murder. Frontex has been accused of killing by omission, by withdrawing key services to actually save lives. It has also been accused of illegal pushbacks. Illegal pushbacks of the most vulnerable human beings have been well documented. I have not heard any conversations in this country about what needs to be done in relation to Frontex. It needs to be tackled. Frontex is an affront to the values of which we speak when we talk about the European Union.

Like others, I want to mention Gaza, Palestine and the genocide going on there. Again, I salute Mrs. Robinson for her courage in consistently speaking out on this issue. While I very much welcome the recognition of the State of Palestine, what we need are countries who will take a lead in real actions. The real actions I am talking about are passing the occupied territories Bill. It can be done. Belgium has already passed a similar Bill. The political will is lacking. I honestly cannot understand how, in the face of genocide, we cannot all agree and take that action now in terms of passing the occupied territories Bill, the divestments Bill and finally applying proper sanctions against the apartheid State of Israel. We can never be forgiven by history if we do not take those actions.

In the last minute or so I want to recognise one of the key things Mrs. Robinson did as president that perhaps has not gained the recognition it deserves. In 1993, before the IRA and Loyalist ceasefires, Mrs. Robinson decided to publicly visit the community of West Belfast and to greet its MP, Gerry Adams, and to shake his hand. This was the boldest of bold initiatives at the time, because Gerry Adams, president of my party, Sinn Féin, and the community of West Belfast had been demonised and marginalised by the British and Irish Governments. The opposition faced by her for the decision to visit was vociferous from the political and media establishment. The British Government arrogantly said that Ireland's President could not visit a part of Ireland, West Belfast, because she had not gone through the proper channels. When that failed to deter her, the British then refused to provide diplomatic security protection. The British Prime Minister, John Major, spoke to the Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds. Mrs. Robinson took her own counsel on the matter as she characteristically has done on other challenging issues such as Palestine and the climate crisis. She listened to people such as Inez McCormack who was in touch with women like Eileen Howell, the chairperson of the Falls Community Council. They knew that the President's visit would help, particularly the women of West Belfast and the North, who were carrying the burden of the conflict. They were the mothers of the children who were dying and going to prison. They had a vested interest in peace and hoped, with some justification, that a visit by Mrs. Robinson to West Belfast and a handshake with Gerry Adams was a good thing to do. It was an important initiative I do not believe has ever been given the proper recognition that it deserves. It sent a timely signal on the need to treat people with respect. It was also hugely popular throughout Ireland. It was a breach in the wall of exclusion which had been built around Sinn Féin by the establishment and encouraged other important gestures of peace which ultimately led to the peace that we all enjoy in Ireland today.

Gabhaim buíochas libh go léir. I thank all Members, especially for their kind remarks. It is interesting to listen because we all need somebody to inspire us. If I have inspired some of the Members, that is the way it goes. I appreciate their remarks.

I want to deal with a number of really important issues that have been raised, first of all, the importance of hope. This was emphasised by a number of Members. Senator Chambers started with it. That is what I am trying to say. We need to change the narrative. The narrative we need is that we are on the cusp of this much healthier, much better, much safer, much fairer, cleaner, renewable energy world. We are almost there, we just need to get there. However, the science is telling us we need to move faster. We know ourselves that we need to go from the 29% to the 51% reductions. I agree with Alice - I will call her Alice because we know each other well - that it is not an option. We actually need to do it, even though it seems hard now. What I would say to Senator Garvey is that every party needs to be a Green Party, and every job needs to be a green job. Everything we do needs to be there to precisely change and make sure that we do achieve what we want.

I was so glad that so many of you raised just transition. We are in the period now of just transition. It is absolutely vital. I did not speak about it at length, earlier.

I often speak about just transition out, which is the just transition out of fossil fuel, and remembering the workers and their communities. We had that with turf in the midlands. We have a just transition fund, etc. I am glad to see that it is mainly grant money. It is probably not enough for those who are there but at least it is a good effort. We do not see enough just transition out globally at the moment. It is a big problem. However, we also need just transition in to affordable, accessible, renewable energy and to the kind of regeneration of our soil, our land and encouraging farmers. I very much agree with that phrase "sustainable and viable" rural communities. In many ways, they should be all the more sustainable because of the possibility of the Internet and of communications and yet we are not seeing that. It is true that I keep hearing that farmers feel the obligation and the burden, as opposed to that they are part of the solution and have to be moved with as part of the solution. However, there are different farmers. There are the big farmers who have to address policy issues - and with whom the Government has to address policy issues - and they have to change more.

I am very pleased that so many of the Members mentioned refugees. Again, we need to learn to manage much better now those who are coming into our country and into Europe because that number is going to grow very significantly, inevitably, because of the climate shocks. People are already moving within their own countries. They will be moving out because extreme flooding and drought will drive them and we have to be ready for those problems. There needs to be far more of a focus on real management.

I want to reflect on the points that were made in terms of thinking of how to create solutions, if I can put it that way. When The Elders met with the Minister of Finance in Brazil, to go back to the first place I went to, I asked him - because Brazil is chair of the G20 - to invite Carlos Nobre, the great Brazilian scientist, to open the meeting of G20 finance ministers. That is really significant because those countries are the big emitters. If the ministers of finance of the big emitters hear the science presented in a way that really brings home the urgency, that will make a difference. I was thinking back to the time of Covid. Members will remember how the Chief Medical Officer had a very special role in warning us about the situation. We need to somehow have a chief scientist or scientist council that really matters and is really listened to and that talks to us about how we make that progress.

Most of all, I come back to the hope. Most of all, we need a positive narrative that says we are on the cusp and we are going to get there. We are going to get there in Ireland because we will alert communities and local authorities to their roles and we will shift some funding. I have said it before and I will say it here: if necessary let us borrow some of the money of our children and our grandchildren because if we do not, they may not have a good future. Think about it: they may not have a livable future if we do not do enough now. Let us really have that positive narrative and have that sense that we are going to get there. We are going to do it because it will be better for the country.

A number of speakers mentioned the bigger countries that are not doing enough. Let me say that China is doing a huge amount. It is also going into and staying in coal in a very big way but it is the leader on all the clean energy. It is the leader on solar, on wind and on electric vehicles. Now Europe is putting up protective barriers to Chinese technology because China has put its government's money in and it is incentivised. The United States is incentivising through its inflation reduction Act, which I will never call by its initials. I always have to remember that very strange name for climate legislation. That is incentivising the United States. They are going hell for leather now on solar, on green hydrogen and on battery retention. The changes that are taking place are immense but the US is not paying enough for climate finance. It is not taking its responsibility there. It is also not cutting its emissions enough. It is still allowing oil, gas and coal companies to behave as if they were necessary to the future, which they are not. Even there, the phasing out must be with just transition and it must be done with money and resources for the workers and their communities that are affected.

It has been a very interesting opportunity for me to hear the thoughts of the Senators on the European and local elections we have just had because we are going to face other elections. We have to change the narrative. We have to get over this. We have to stop the naysayers and realise we are actually all on the same side, and it is the side that has to win. We have to be thinking of the next generation and we have to do it with that sense of excitement I had in Ballina. There was just a lovely spirit in that conference because everybody was involved in the activity they were proud of. We have to move that way and have local self-development in the country, stimulated by the Senators and by others. It is not the responsibility of any particular Government; it is the responsibility of everybody. It is the responsibility of all of the country of this stage and it is urgent as it could be.

I thank the Seanad for the opportunity to speak with the passion I feel. It is not often I can let fly like this but I feel this is the place to do it. I loved being a Senator and being in the Seanad. I can see the seriousness of purpose with which the Senators have all spoken. I hope together we can change the narrative and make it a hopeful way forward that involves and engages everybody, that has young people involved, and that really makes us feel excited about this future that we need to imagine and rush towards. That is what we need to do. Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.

As a Senator, as the seventh President of Ireland and as the chair of The Elders, the iarUachtarán has always been and continues to be a person who has championed minorities, women and the diaspora. When she came to Leinster House to participate in the launch of the 100th anniversary of Seanad Éireann, along with our great friend and colleague, the former Senator David Norris, at that time she focused on the issue of climate change and climate justice. She said that climate change needed to become part of everybody's everyday and had to be part of mainstream life. She pointed out that climate had become a specialist subject, which it should not be given that it is an issue for everyone. She touched today on the issue of climate justice and on the need to tackle the fossil fuel lobby, which is saying this is something for everybody to solve. It is something for everybody but in particular, this lobby is committing environmental vandalism on the world and is selling the future of our children and future generations for shareholders' profits. We all agree with Mrs. Robinson that we need to create a cleaner, safer and fairer planet for everybody and create a more positive narrative. I refer to that proverb that says no raindrop believes it is responsible for the flood. We need to change that narrative with hope. The words she finished on are those I will finish on. I refer to President Mandela's message of hope that something is always seems impossible until it is done. With her leadership, we hope it will be done. Thank you, President Robinson.