Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Were BirdWatch Ireland or the Hedge Laying Association of Ireland involved in any such consultation? They were not. I just wanted to clarify that because of the importance of consultation and, as Ms Duggan mentioned, the importance of having fora in order that stakeholders can get a positive process under way so that we do not have to have people getting frustrated here in the meeting.

The report on national biodiversity indicators was launched yesterday. It said, "91% of Ireland's habitats designated under EU law are of ‘inadequate’ or ‘bad’ status", and:

10% of Ireland’s 31,500 species have had their conservation status assessed. Of those, 3% are now extinct, 15% are assessed as under threat of extinction and 9% as near threatened.

We have a problem with biodiversity. I want to put on the record that when we talk about the uplands and the hedgerows, we are not just talking about birds. We are talking about a range of species. We have the pollinators. We have spoken with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation about the importance of the hedgerows for pollination and about the services pollinators provide to the farming community. In addition to pollinators, hedgerows are important for bats. That is something which has not been discussed. When we talk about biodiversity with regard to the legislation, we should really look at the broad range of it.

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív and Fianna Fáil. In the process of discussing the legislation in the Seanad, it was great to see that parties are open to looking at change. I just wanted to make the point that biodiversity is about more than just the birds.