Tipp Green Party welcome nature restoration initiative

Green Party representative for the Nenagh area, Iva Pocock, has welcomed the Government’s support for nature restoration, saying that it will help North Tipperary cope with climate change.

“Only last week a local farmer I was talking to – he has tillage, sheep and cattle – commented that the ‘weather is broke’. He’s right. We’ve had the hottest June ever on record. We’ve had tropical-like downpours and thunderstorms. Weather like this is unfortunately predicted to be our future. We need every help we can get in dealing with its impacts,” said Ms Pocock.

“Nature can be our vital ally. We need healthy rivers and lakes – for drinking, for farming, for swimming. We need our pollinators. We need healthy soil. We need our wetlands. And yet all these things have taken a bashing over the last decades. The stats on what we have lost and the state of our waters are utterly depressing. Just look at Lough Derg. Its diverse plant life has nearly been wiped out.

What grows there now are plants that like water polluted with slurry and sewage.

“The European law that’s going through the political process at the moment would set ambitious targets for bringing back nature. It goes way beyond agricultural land. It covers urban ecosystems (our towns need greenery in a heating climate), marine and forest ecosystems.

“I am dismayed that Fine Gael's EPP group in Europe has been voting against restoring nature. They need to stop listening to lobbyists for the status quo and show leadership.”

The Irish Government’s position on the Nature Restoration law is a balanced and positive one that will benefit nature and people in Tipperary, said Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Malcolm Noonan, recently.

Minister Noonan added: “It is ambitious and implementable. It will see increased investment in rural Ireland through voluntary and well-resourced schemes, while also bringing back wildlife and restoring wild places.”