Dr. Brendan Dunford:

I have a quick summary point to make. Listening to the various contributions, it is important to remember that this is fundamentally about people and communities. Along the west of Ireland and in uplands like Wicklow, there are natural constraints as to how one farms the land. Harvest 2020 leaves many of those farmers behind, however. It prevents a roadmap for those farmers to provide really important services and functions, such as food production, biodiversity in the landscape, and tourism. If we can produce a programme that delivers those and proves it can deliver, as per the Burren model, that is the best long-term guarantee we can give to those communities. Most of them, at least where we live, are fundamentally farmers and that is what they do best. We are just saying to them that they are producing a lot more than they realise and there is a demand for it. We are prepared to help them capture the cost of producing those things. That will make their farm families and communities more sustainable.

The big difference is that we want to do it right from day one because that is the best guarantee we have of continuing it into the future. That is the genius of the Burren IFA; it did not accept a compromise programme. It has pushed for a quality programme and high standards. We exact a lot from farmers because that is the only way we can sit on top of the pile and secure future funding.

In case I do not get to the microphone again, I invite members of the committee at any point, individually or collectively, to visit us in the Burren. I can say with hand on heart that the lovely thing about this programme is that however well we present it, or not, the impact on the ground is phenomenally significant and important. It stands up to any scrutiny.