I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on the issue of biodiversity and to mark National Biodiversity Week today. This week should be not just a celebration of one of this country’s prized assets, including our natural environment, landscapes, coasts, wildlife and waterways, but also a call to action because while we market ourselves on the aesthetically rich, green environment that we have been blessed with, we do not do the best job of looking after it and nurturing it, at least at State level. Forty shades of green increasingly refers to the colour of the algae in our lakes. Often when we discuss the climate crisis in this House or elsewhere, we omit the fact that we have a corresponding and related biodiversity crisis. The evidence and the figures are pretty stark. As per the NPWS and EPA, more than 85% of Ireland’s EU-protected habitats are now in "unfavourable condition". Nearly half of our native species are experiencing declines. Likewise, the EPA found that almost half of our waterways are in unhealthy conditions. We heard last week that our newest designated bathing area in Dún Laoghaire will be off-limits to swimmers this summer because of water pollution. Pollinators are disappearing from our countryside, peatlands continue to degrade and species that were once commonplace in Ireland are becoming rarer and rarer. These are not just abstract environmental concerns. There are tangible economic and industrial effects to this sort of degradation. Pollinators, for example, are vital in food production. When they decline, that sector suffers. If marine ecosystems collapse, coastal communities will be the ones paying the price. Yet, despite the scale of this emergency, the Government continues to treat biodiversity and our environment as secondary concerns. Just last week, the Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026 proceeded to the next Stage in this House. Ministers presented it as a practical measure to speed up infrastructure delivery. Nobody denies that we need to speed up delivery of infrastructure in this country. We have been held back for too long by our apparent inability to get important projects over the line in a timely and cost-effective way. However, the remedies contained in the Bill are not only misguided; they are deeply troubling in the context of the climate and biodiversity crises. The ability of Ministers to effectively decide when environmental and climate protections apply and when they do not undermines the very foundation of environmental law. Environmental and biodiversity protections cannot exist only when it is convenient. The Bill completely misdiagnoses the issue. The delays in getting critical infrastructure over the line are not because of judicial reviews, JRs, being taken on environmental grounds. They are because of the consistent under-resourcing of our public bodies, planning authorities and courts and a lack of strategic development across our national infrastructure. As I pointed to last week, even if offshore wind projects make it through the planning process in the next couple of years, we are still way off actually building them because our ports are not ready for them, nor is our grid ready to take the energy being generated offshore. That has nothing to do with JRs or environmental or biodiversity concerns; it is an issue with the level of resources and expertise being made available to public bodies. The Government is simply looking for somewhere or someone to point the finger at for its own failings. Environmental safeguards are not bureaucratic obstacles. They are democratic protections for communities, ecosystems, and future generations. The Government has argued that these powers are necessary to accelerate projects of national importance but once a mechanism is created that allows Ministers to sidestep environmental scrutiny in the name of urgency, a precedent is established that can be expanded again and again. Today it might be one project; tomorrow it could be many. Let us be absolutely honest about the contradiction at the heart of this Government’s approach. On the one hand, Ministers speak passionately about climate action and restoring nature while, on the other, they pass legislation that weakens the enforceability of the very laws designed to protect our climate and ecosystems that are in crisis. One cannot claim to defend biodiversity while simultaneously hollowing out the legal protections that safeguard it. I was really surprised and disappointed that the Social Democrats, in particular, supported the Government on this Bill. Only 15 Labour Party, Green Party and People Before Profit, PBP, TDs voted against it. It is easy to say we want to protect and promote our biodiversity but we also have to vote for it when we have the opportunity. I have not even touched on the question of whether Ministers being able to selectively decide when a law applies or not to their favourite projects is constitutional. This Bill will likely end up increasing the delays in our planning processes. Nowhere is the failure of Government policy in terms of biodiversity and the environment more visible than in the condition of lreland’s waterways. We are a water-rich country. Our rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters are central to our sense of self. They support habitats, the tourism sector, farming, recreation and fisheries yet too many of our waterways are deteriorating before our eyes. The EPA has repeatedly warned about declining water quality in rivers and estuaries, particularly due to nutrient pollution associated with intensive agriculture and wastewater failures. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus are fuelling eutrophication, algal blooms and oxygen depletion in aquatic ecosystems. That is why the EU nitrates directive exists. It was introduced to protect waters from agricultural pollution and to improve water quality across Europe. lreland’s nitrates action programme is supposed to reduce the run-off of slurry and fertilisers into rivers and groundwater. However, year after year, we have seen the same pattern emerge. Warnings are ignored, water quality deteriorates further and political cowardice means nothing is done about it. The debate around nitrates has often become polarised but it really should not be. Farmers are not the enemy of biodiversity. Many farmers are among the strongest defenders of our landscapes and ecosystems. They understand the land better than anyone. The real failure lies in successive Governments that have forced farmers into a model of intensification without adequately supporting sustainable alternatives. We need a different path. We need a just transition for farming communities that rewards environmental stewardship, supports family farms, protects water quality and ensures farmers can earn a decent living while restoring biodiversity because the current trajectory is failing both our natural environment and farmers alike. The consequences are becoming more and more apparent. My colleagues on the climate committee witnessed the situation in Lady's Island Lake in County Wexford, one of Ireland's most significant coastal lagoons. I had the pleasure of visiting it last Friday with the committee delegation. It is internationally important for birdlife and protected under European conservation law. Every year, it supports migratory species and delicate ecological balances that have developed over centuries but like so many of our waterways, there has been a pattern of neglect for decades that is putting all of that at risk. Do not get me wrong; this is a really complex problem to solve. Nutrient enrichment, changing water conditions, agricultural run-off and climate impacts have all impacted on the ecological integrity of Lady's Island Lake. Conservationists and local communities have repeatedly raised concerns about the vulnerability of the site and the need for stronger protections. I commend the Save Lady’s Island Lake campaign and the EPA on their advocacy in this area. Lady’s Island Lake tells us something very important about biodiversity loss in Ireland; destruction rarely arrives dramatically. It happens gradually. Lady’s Island Lake has declined over the past 40 year, and because it has happened slowly, Governments and local authorities have not necessarily kept their eye on the ball. Because so many agencies and State bodies have had partial responsibility over the area, no one had taken overall responsibility for it until now That is perhaps the greatest danger of all - not active destruction, but complacency. That cannot be allowed to continue, but in fairness, I am pleased that Wexford County Council, alongside other relevant bodies, is taking responsibility and leading a strategic oversight group to ensure this vital habitat is restored urgently. The Oireachtas climate committee will work closely with the council to ensure this happens. This type of multi-agency approach could be a template to use in other lakes on the island suffering from similar issues such as Lough Neagh. More importantly and more generally, if we believe in biodiversity protection, nature restoration and ecological health, they can no longer sit at the margins of public policy. They have to be central considerations. That means properly funding the NPWS, investing in river restoration and wetland recovery, strengthening the enforcement capacity within the EPA, supporting farmers through sustainable agriculture schemes that genuinely reward biodiversity protection and restoring peatlands not only as carbon sinks, but as living ecosystems. That also means expanding native woodland cover, protecting marine biodiversity through stronger conservation measures and, crucially, recognising that climate action and biodiversity protection must go hand in hand. We have increasingly seen this framing from the Government that somehow environmental protections are barriers to progress. I cannot stress how much I disagree with that assertion. Nature restoration, clean water, healthy soils and resilient ecosystems are all economic policies. Biodiversity loss carries enormous financial costs through flooding, water treatment, agricultural decline, tourism impacts and public health pressures. Protecting nature is not anti-development; it is responsible development. If we are serious about building a resilient Ireland, then environmental law must be strengthened not weakened.

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