Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of all members of the committee, I thank the witnesses who have attended this meeting. It was an ideal presentation for us to start with in our consideration of the commonage framework proposals. The witnesses have made a lot of sense. Dr. Moran referred to the combination of food production and economic environmental concerns. In the past, I have said that instead of a Common Agricultural Policy we should have a total land use policy which calculates everything. There are recreational, tourism and energy elements also, which we did not cover today. They are all-inclusive and one can build in a whole product, including food production, environment and energy, in cohesion with it. That is the plan we should examine.

I come from a similar part of the country. The Wicklow Uplands Council has worked with the National Parks and Wildlife Service to try to develop a consensus and avoid division. Its mission statement refers to all those who live, work and recreate in the area. Those are the fundamentals. Given that the EU has cited this as an example of how to resolve problems, it seems to make sense that we should incorporate it nationally.

We will be interested in the proposals to be submitted on behalf of the rural development programme, from the viewpoint of our CAP presentations. While we made a submission just before Christmas, we did not deal with pillar two, which was deliberate. We will do so, however, because it will come to a point where money and programmes will have to be discussed. We will be anxious to see those proposals, if they are accessible, for our own consideration.

I thank all the witnesses for travelling up from County Clare. While it might be desirable, Deputy McNamara's proposal is out of our hands. It is being handled by another division. Ireland's EU Presidency is being handled in a prudent and thrifty manner from a cost viewpoint.