Dr. Jonathan Derham:

The questions will run between us. Deputy Ferris is quite right. Education is a founding element of this resource efficiency model. We have certainly proved that the joined-up approach has been very successful across State agencies and sectoral organisations. Clearly, it is the way to go. At the root of all of this, behavioural change is a sociological issue and probably in some cases a psychological issue for individuals and groups.

Why do groups have difficulty with change? The following elements should be considered, namely, the economic element and the cost of change. Age is a factor when individual farmers reach the age when they think about retiring they do not want to have to reinvent themselves. The scale of the farm is another element, with very small scale farms having low-cost effectiveness. Habits and culture also dictate people's behaviour. It is a complex sociological problem.
We in the State agencies have found that telling people what they should do is not terribly successful. The most effective model has been the farm-based discussion groups in which farmers talk to farmers. There is a direct exchange of experience between them. I am not from a farming background but through my professional life I have a great deal of interaction with the farming sector and we are very pleased that the IFA is coming forward with the farm discussion group model. Members will see at the top of page 7 of the slides, the indicative farm discussion groups are spread across the country. There will be some fine tweaking based on farm types but they will look across the tillage, beef and dairy farms. There will be a range of different farm types and different farm enterprise types within the discussion groups. We will continue this process in the following years, money permitting. The EPA is putting funding of €100,000 in cash into this year's discussion groups and about another €70,000 in terms of people and human resources. That is a modest sum but the impact is significant.
I will comment very quickly on the 2020 targets. My colleagues might add further to them. I do not think there will be a pro rata reduction in agriculture. These are national targets and it is for the State to decide on the most successful policy arrangement between the different sectors. In some sectors we might be able to achieve greater reductions that do not result in the same pro ratareduction in the farming sector. I do not believe it will be so straightforward that there will be a disproportionate cut in the agricultural sector.