Dr. Patrick Boylan:

One of the questions was on the differing standards with regard to EU directives. This is a concern to us in the agency and probably to the wider environmental organisations, particularly as it relates to the habitats directive and the water framework directive. We all work towards attaining good ecological status.

The question post-Brexit is how that will work. We really do not know how it will work out, particularly if both of these directives have been transposed into national legislation. They are on the Statute Book in both the United Kingdom and Ireland but as time moves on and if the United Kingdom and European Union make changes to their legislation, they will go out of sync. How will that work? It is unknown at present. We are on various committees in Northern Ireland and Ireland with regard to the workings of the EU directives. At present, it is just business as usual. That is as much as we know. It is not as if we had a crystal ball.