In an interview with The Irish Times last week, the rugby great Paul O’Connell said something very simple that still made headlines because it confirmed a characteristic of our country that is seldom recognised in certain circles, but which still rings true.
He said he saw very little difference between a rugby player from Limerick or Cork or Kerry and those from private schools in Dublin. That they are the “nicest fellas you could ever hope to meet”. It was an antidote to all the talk about there being an urban-rural divide in our country. It would restore your faith in our common decency. A sense that we are in something together, no matter what province, county or parish you are from.
It is the very opposite of what is put forward by those who trade in identity politics which is all the rage at the moment. Such politics thrives by sowing division and promoting doubt around what we need to do as a country. It is a particular threat for the environmental movement where we need the majority of our people on board to face the three-way crisis in climate change, biodiversity loss and local pollution.
Rising to that challenge is not helped by the fact our media so often frame green stories as a fight between farmers and environmentalists, neither of whom come out well from such a telling. Social-media networks then drive an even worse war for attention, giving a megaphone to those who are angry about every blooming thing.
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Last week Dr Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin, chair of the Independent Advisory Committee on Nature Restoration, brought much-needed balance into the public debate. She was on national radio outlining the recommendations in their report on the new national nature restoration plan.
That plan has to go out for public consultation this month and be in place by September. Given the right evidence and necessary incentives, she said farmers are the best “doers” for nature. “They are the people who want to make sure the land is passed on for generations to come.”
There is evidence backing up what she’s saying. Two years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency carried out in-depth interviews with 1,400 people for their Climate Change in the Irish Mind longitudinal study. The vast majority, urban and rural, young and old, rich or poor, saw the issue as a real threat that they wanted addressed. Less than 5 per cent were what you might call climate sceptics. The instinct to protect our natural world seems to cross each divide.
My own experience in visiting every council across the country over recent years was similar. When asking for help in addressing the climate crisis, it was clear that most representatives understood the need for action. The only problem is that political science trumps climate science at every turn.
Because the changes we need to make are disruptive and take time, they are a perfect vehicle for those interested in identity politics who want to depict climate action as part of a cultural war. We end up with a default decision, agreeing in principle to the transition but only delaying or weakening what needs to be done.
That means we stick with our car-dominated transport system despite all the downsides it brings. It is why it takes so long to build new energy and other infrastructure in the country. It leaves our once-pristine waters highly polluted. Meanwhile, farmers get the blame and are caught up in a food system that is neither serving them nor encouraging a new generation into managing our land.
Dr Ní Shúilleabháin and the team of stakeholders behind the report want to get around that block by providing new incentives so our foresters and farmers can rise to the task. Their first recommendation was to provide between €400 million and €700 million in financial support from the Government each year to back the nature restoration plan.
Their report came the day after the Government had just given out a similar amount in a short-term subsidy for fossil fuels, which takes us in the opposite direction. With fertiliser prices on the rise, it would have been far better to put some money into reopening the mixed sward grassland support scheme. That is the best way of improving farming outcomes and incomes, while also tackling the three environmental challenges we face.
Their second key recommendation was for the State to lead the way by better managing our public lands. That has to start by reversing the decision of this administration to kill off Coillte Nature, just as it was starting to show what could be done.
If we get the right incentives in place, there will be a positive tipping point, where farmers show they are the “doers” and become the well-paid heroes of this transition. Making us all proud of each other at the same time.
