Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Justice Laffoy and the Citizens' Assembly for the fantastic work they have done in all the topics before it, not just this one. I am very interested in what Ms Justice Laffoy said about the ancillary recommendations and the extra work at which she thinks we could look. I know the committee will discuss that.

The key issue relates to communicating that the climate is changing. Many people recognise that something unusual is happening. We talk about flood events and all the rest of it. I live in a very rural area. People in rural areas notice things happening that they never saw previously, such as daffodils coming up in November or snowdrops appearing before Christmas. People are tuning into all these changes, what is happening to wildlife, etc. We are pushing at an open door in the context of getting information to people because I am of the view that they will be receptive to what we have to say.

It will be very challenging for us to impress on organisations, such as the State broadcaster, RTÉ, which has a grave responsibility in this area, the importance of ensuring that information is disseminated accurately. Topics such as proposed development for the generation of renewable energy need to be properly analysed and reported on rather than simply being the subject of the type of sensationalism that we have seen in programmes that purport to be reflective of whatever they are trying to do. I do not know what those involved are trying to do much the time, but accuracy does not seem to form a big part of it. That is one area we need to look at and I know we will make strong recommendations in that regard.

Does Ms Justice Laffoy believe Met Éireann has a role to play? Every day, people listen to and watch Met Éireann forecasts on radio and television. The organisation has a role to play. A representative from Met Éireann made a presentation. Rather than being a tiny line on its website, Met Éireann should include in its weather forecast broadcasts some references to climate change, such as how much energy has been generated through renewable energy on that day. That is really important and I believe the public will be receptive.

There is a recommendation on the planting of forests. The emphasis will always be on farmers to use their land to plant trees - most likely broadleaf trees. Would it be better to consider encouraging bodies such as Bord na Móna and Coillte to plant the massive tracts of land they have with broadleaf trees in order that they might become parks that we could all enjoy? Bord na Móna is doing a considerable amount of work in Lough Boora in my electoral area in Offaly and in other places. It is moving away from the harvesting of peat and we could consider planting forestry on those lands. In areas that Coillte has harvested, it could consider planting broadleaf trees.

I am interested in a deposit-and-return scheme for plastic bottles. I am old enough to remember the deposit-and-return scheme on glass bottles and benefited enormously from it when I was a child by collecting glass bottles from neighbours and elderly people. There is certainly scope for such a scheme and I have no doubt that the committee will consider the matter.

Returning to agriculture and greenhouse gases, it is quite unfair that, on the one hand, we want farmers to produce food and that, on the other, we are going to penalise them in respect of the by-products relating to what they produce. Did the assembly give consideration to the sequestration of methane? I was glad to see the recommendation on supports for farmers in the context of carbon sequestration. Could methane also be included under the emissions-trading scheme? The assembly might have considered that.