Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the Minister's presentation and in the debate so far, biodiversity is of huge concern to her. We heard in recent days about the National Biodiversity Data Centre which, I am sure, feeds into much of the Minister's research in terms of Government policy. As the committee will be aware, the staff there are coming to the end of their contracts and do not seem to have any security in terms of where they or their organisation will be beyond 2019. The Government makes sweeping comments in support of biodiversity. However, I would assume that this would be an important agency for the Government's policy in the future. I wonder whether the Minister could comment on where she sees the National Biodiversity Data Centre and its staff being in 2020 and beyond.