In a nail-biting vote this morning (Wednesday July 12th), the European Parliament voted to adopt the Commission's proposal on the Nature Restoration Law. I welcome this important step forward to restore nature across the European Union. It wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless and passionate efforts of so many across the EU and at home in Ireland. I’d like to pay tribute to them, and to my colleagues in the European Parliament for unanimously backing the Nature Restoration Law today.
I know that there are some communities who will be very concerned at today’s news. Let me be clear: nature restoration can only be delivered with the full support of the farming, forestry and fishing communities who own and/or manage our lands and seas. This support is something that, with the help of colleagues across Government, I intend to earn.
My objective now is to find the common ground between the farmers, foresters, fishers, NGOs, businesses, scientists and the public to develop a National Restoration Plan that will benefit people and nature in Ireland. I will do this through a broad and deep public participation process, informed by robust ecological and socio-economic impact assessments in order to enable honest debate.
I will also continue to advocate for a Nature Fund at the national level that is separate to the CAP in order to underpin the implementation of long-term restoration measures, as I have done since the very beginning of the debate on this issue.
The Irish government demonstrated its support for the Nature Restoration Law as agreed at the European Council, the Dail demonstrated its support for nature restoration with a vote of 121 to 9 just last week, and 71% of Irish people want the Nature Restoration Law, according to a recent Ireland Thinks poll. This is in addition to 3,000+ scientists, hundreds of businesses including multinational corporations, and hundreds of thousands of citizens across the EU. Today, the European Parliament has echoed this support and endorsed the Nature Restoration Law. It’s a great day for nature, for society and for our collective future on this beautiful planet.