Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will try not to be repetitive as Deputy Brendan Smith has covered a great deal of this. I thank the delegates for attending and raising the profile of environmental issues. I was looking at the documents last night and could not help but think of the phrase in the context of a 32 county Ireland that only the rivers run free. They run free in the context of the issues which have just been raised and which we need to address. I look forward to the delegates coming to my town of Dundalk on 16 June. I have already put that event in my diary. It puts matters in context in terms of the opportunities to acknowledge that the air, seas, marine life, flora and fauna know no boundaries. Most of County Louth, believe it or not, is in the Neagh-Bann River basin catchment. I served the area for a considerable time at local authority level and I am acutely aware of the importance of this. I will not focus on diesel laundering, but I note that it remains a serious cause for concern. In itself, it highlights the sensitivity of the movement of water in that catchment where there has been a danger North and South to the supply of water.

There should be opportunities in a post-Brexit scenario to explore further the various geo-parks which know no boundaries. I refer in particular from my constituency perspective to the need to approach collectively the environmental issues in the Gullion-Cooley-Mourne area. It is probably similar in the Marble Arch-Cavan area. It is surprising we do not have an all-Ireland pillar to deal with the issues we are discussing. Will the delegates comment on the need to strengthen links between local authorities and to strengthen the various bodies in a post-Brexit situation? I refer for example to the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly and the North-South Ministerial Council and enabling them to deal with the issues the delegates raise. People must become more aware of their responsibilities and the need to ensure funding streams for the protection of the environment, North and South, are maintained. There must be common ground, not difference, in our legislative approaches. If there is not common ground, I fear, as Deputy Brendan Smith said, for the integrity of our food products. It is important in recognising environmental issues to have compatible approaches and ongoing co-operation to ensure both the North and the South sing from the same hymn sheet.