Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome representatives of the green pillar and thank them for their presentation which contains many thought provoking ideas that will stimulate discussion. Many of us will sleep happier in the knowledge that, according to the delegates, we would have avoided all the bad experiences of the boom if the green pillar had been established before 2009. We can now rest assured that the practices of the past will not be repeated.

I confess that I do not know much about the environmental pillar. We have heard that it has representatives on local development boards and so forth. Perhaps the delegates might identify its representatives in the north Tipperary partnership in order that we can get to know them better.

Ms Ó Siochrú spoke about greening the economy and the role of local government. Will she give us an idea of the base from which we are starting? In other words, will she indicate, on a scale of one to ten, how local government has performed in the environmental area?

Some aspects of the agenda the delegation set out are of great interest to me, as I come from the heart of rural Ireland. Demand for food will increase substantially when one considers that up to one half of the world's population goes hungry. Thinking in terms of Food Harvest 2020 and beyond, perhaps up to 2050, what are the delegates' views on current farm practices and the production of food? What is being done wrong and what are we getting right?

What action should the Department take to address the problem of ash dieback disease? What is the solution to it?

These are exciting times and Ireland has significant opportunities, particularly in the area of food production. We also face challenges such as global warming and climate change. I am interested in hearing the views of the delegates on these issues.

Many topics have been raised. Do the delegates agree that farmers are the principal custodians of the environment? Do they accept that without farmers, the environment would be in a bad way? There is a perception that they are the culprits. While I accept that there are, for want of a better phrase, cowboys in every trade, farmers are, by and large, the greatest custodians of the environment.