Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I fully support Mr. Punch's proposal on renewable energy. In our own time in government we provided a payment for self generation to encourage exactly that and I would like to see it restored.

The central point seems to be that where the Common Agricultural Policy is going is in rewarding farmers further than GLAS or anything we have seen to date for protecting and encouraging biodiversity. Water management and soil carbon storage should also be part of that. The burning of uplands diminishes all three. We heard today about the potential loss of peatland uplands from burning and the loss of biodiversity from same. There may also be an effect on run-off water and flood management. In terms of CAP reform, we want to pay farmers for those services but how can we do that when at the same time we are introducing legislation that is anathema to biodiversity protection as well as carbon storage? We agree with what has been said about renewable energy but the payments from a new CAP system which will begin early next year must be based on an approach taken arm-in-arm with BirdWatch Ireland and the natural heritage bodies in order for us to be able to get the payment farmers should be getting for the services they render.