Mr. Patrick Barrett:

I wish to reiterate something I said earlier in order to fundamentally underline the vital importance of the biodiversity support that is required. In its interaction with air, land, soil, etc., this support is essential in the context of providing the ecosystem and ecosystem services. It is important, therefore, that biodiversity is factored in at a very high level. The latter should be seen as a strong underpinning factor in the context of delivering on many of the different elements to be achieved in terms of climate targets and food production. Biodiversity must be seen as a key cornerstone on which to build. There was some discussion in the context of ecological focus areas and the loss of productive land. In the medium to long term, however, the provision of ecological focus areas and the type of green infrastructure that has high interlinkages on land in Ireland will lead to high level biodiversity and this will underpin all the elements the Irish authorities are seeking to achieve in the context of land use. It is extremely important that this is considered.