Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for appearing to be here and not to be here. I thank the witnesses for their presentations. As Senator Michael Comiskey and others have said, they were really interesting. I am looking at the membership of the national uplands working group. Is the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine part of the group? If not, why not? There is no mention in either of the presentations of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Why is that? Do the witnesses feel they are climbing a very high mountain and, if so, is the summit in sight? It is hard to get an idea, from trying to read between the lines, of the level of the struggle in which they are engaged to bring people with them. Having listened to Mr. Lorcán O'Toole I got the impression that he has a huge passion for what he is doing and wonder whether that passion is matched by other people's passion and co-operation. Do the witnesses feel they are in a lonely fight for what they are trying to achieve, which I support wholeheartedly?