Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Wall and Mr. Guerin for their attendance. They have a bus to catch and I am glad we were able to facilitate their leaving on time.

Members referred to the fact the Department and the National Parks and Wildlife Service came before the committee last week. It proved to be quite a constructive engagement and it would be well worth reviewing the transcripts of it. The key underlying fact is that all commonages, and not only uplands commonages, should be in good agricultural environmental condition. Deputy Ó Cuív mentioned the Burren, where even before it became a description or phrase it was the underlying objective.

We learned from the officials last week that each of the 4,500 commonages is individual and has different circumstances with regard to numbers and the dynamic which exists. Undergrazing seems to be a bigger problem than overgrazing. Perhaps when the original framework was done it was the other way round, particularly in the west. I could probably say hand on heart that very little change has occurred in Wicklow one way or the other. There is a tendency towards undergrazing but there has never been a tendency towards overgrazing. There is a bit to go on this and the point has been made that we should make haste slowly. From listening to the Department and the National Parks and Wildlife Service last week, their focus is on trying to get this right. If good agricultural environmental conditions are the objective, it is the only way we can achieve them.