Does the Minister believe that in the next step for greater ambition in the targets in the EU green deal, there is potential for Ireland to take a leadership role and go further in our own climate action Bill to address the need for greater ambition? Does the Minister have a date for when the Bill will come before the Houses?

I congratulate the Minister of State on his new role, I wish him well in it and I look forward to working with him over the next few years, particularly on issues of biodiversity. I am delighted to speak on this legislation, which I hope paves the way for the suite of legislative measures required if we are to meet our national and international climate action obligations. This Bill has many remits, including the establishment of the climate action fund, which I will focus on in my contribution today. While I welco…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Social Democrats' first Private Members' motion in the new Dáil. I am delighted to be in a position to contribute to the debate as a Social Democrats Deputy for Wicklow. Our motion recognises first and foremost the incredibly important role essential workers in many different sectors have played in giving us the certainty and safety we craved during Covid-19. Be they our local shop assistants, our care assistants, our waste collectors or our takeaway deliverer, they all had…

This afternoon, I took a phone call from a woman in my constituency. She rang to tell me her story and the reason an extension to maternity leave was so important to her. She was carrying twins. Tragically, she lost one of the babies. She continued with her pregnancy but it was a very difficult pregnancy. She was grieving for her baby and the birth was very traumatic. This woman has not had access to any counselling or physiotherapy and she is both physically and emotionally scarred following that experience. Child…

In that case, the Government is planning to squeeze this in to the last few weeks of 2021. It is really disappointing that one of the first initiatives announced by this Government potentially undercuts parents. The Government, in its amendment, states it will examine the matter, that it is a proposal at this stage and that there are no guarantees with regard to the amount of paid leave promised to struggling parents. It is also unfortunate and disappointing that the Government has done this in a way that has compl…

I thank the Minister for coming in. I raise the issue of North Wicklow Educate Together secondary school in Bray. I am not sure whether the Minister is familiar with this school but she will become very familiar with it. It has been let down over recent years in finding permanent accommodation and has been bounced from temporary accommodation to temporary accommodation. Unfortunately, it is in the middle of one of those bounces. It has packed up where it was based in the previous academic year and has all its thing…

I am trying to take this in. It is incredibly disappointing for this school. From reading this reply, it would appear that it is expected that the school will take everything that has been packed up and is in storage in a different county, bring it back into the school that has already been deemed inappropriate, and that the school will be put in there for a month or two while this work happens, before the school is actually placed back in its new temporary accommodation. This will be a huge upset for the school an…

I too raise the issue of extending maternity leave for new mothers. I acknowledge that the Taoiseach said earlier that three Ministers are looking at the issue. In light of the fact that it is so urgent and that mothers have had to give up jobs because they cannot access childcare, what timescale are Ministers working to? Will the Taoiseach give a time by which he expects a decision to be made because new mothers need to know where they stand?

If the Minister is agreeable, we will go back and forth with questions and answers. I welcome this opportunity to discuss biodiversity. Last week, I raised the issue with the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton. Fundamentally, biodiversity and its capacity as a nature-based solution to climate change and dealing with climate change adaptation and mitigation is very important. It is an area that has not been given the emphasis it requires. Its value and potential have not been …

I have gone through the EU biodiversity strategy, which contains many really good proposals. As the Minister stated, there is a commitment to protect a minimum of 30% of not just terrestrial areas, but also marine areas and, within that, to have a heavily protected area of 10%. That would be quite a significant change from the current situation, but it is an important goal to aim for. Those commitments to be implemented by 2030 and, as such, there will be a lot of work to be done. As the Minister stated, it is best…

When the Covid crisis hit, countries all over the world very quickly realised the seriousness of the situation and the scale of the crisis being faced. Governments responded quickly and politicians worked together to agree measures that were based on science and the evidence of experts. Our public sector and communities worked tirelessly to form a safety net around the most vulnerable. We demonstrated that, together, we could face down this enormous challenge. The response was not perfect and there are lessons to b…

I note that the Minister, in his statement, acknowledges the great work of many of our public services and utilities. I echo that acknowledgement. In particular I acknowledge the work being done by An Post. From those who engage with communities and help those who are isolating, to the management team that has come up with innovative supports for bookshops and small enterprises, its staff have really done incredible work since Covid began. In our post-Covid economy, our SMEs will have to pivot their business models…

It is a little over a year since Ireland declared a climate and biodiversity emergency. We were one of the first countries in the world to do so and it was a significant milestone for our nation. It was a time when we made a public acknowledgement that we needed to place a much greater emphasis on our wildlife and nature and our place in it. At the time, I was a councillor on Wicklow County Council and Wicklow was the first county in Ireland to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency. The momentum for that dec…

If I may, I will ask one question initially and get a response to it and then ask further questions. I wish to ask about the transition task force, an issue I raised with the Minister two weeks ago. I put forward the proposal that the Department bring together all the key Departments and the NGOs to look at how we can transition our children and young adults back into both their school communities and the general community. A cross-departmental approach has to be taken on this, and the Department of Children and Yo…

I am pleased to hear that the Minister has put the request in. It is a matter of urgency because time is going very quickly and a lot of planning would need to happen before we can make sure we have the supports for those children in place when they need them. On the issue of insurance, I echo the concerns and frustration of other Deputies and of parents and front-line workers who will not have access now to the outreach childcare scheme that had been mooted two weeks ago. It would appear that insurance is, or at t…

It is hard to believe that it is only nine weeks since Covid-19 first arrived in the Republic of Ireland. To date, the focus has been on the immediate health impacts which have been devastating for so many families. However, the impact of Covid-19 goes far beyond the immediate threat to physical health. It will leave a long-term scar on our society that will take time and effort to heal. One group that will find this period particularly difficult are our children and teenagers. Unfortunately, much of the discourse …

It is. I thank the Ceann Comhairle and all of the Oireachtas staff for welcoming us and facilitating the new Members of the House as we transition into our new roles. This is my first speech as a newly elected Deputy and I am delighted have the opportunity to stand here today as a representative for County Wicklow. I thank all of those from County Wicklow who have entrusted me with their vote. I wish it were under different circumstances that we were here today but it is imperative that we discuss the development o…