Professor Yvonne Buckley:

I was speaking about the importance of research for figuring out the effectiveness of nature-based solutions and being able to demonstrate the impact of those nature-based solutions. I was making the point that there is no point in rewetting a peatland or planting some trees, unless we can effectively monitor how that is doing, respond to the monitored data and put in place adaptive management as that ecosystem develops. We need local funding for that in Ireland because of the local context dependence on the performance of natural ecosystems. I may have missed the second part of the Deputy's question, but I hope that my answer was sufficient.

The third part of the Deputy's question to me was around our international obligations. The environmental protections that are written into food production regulations in Ireland and across the EU are very important. They obviously need to be strengthened, and I am aware of ongoing discussions around the new Common Agricultural Policy. They need to be strengthened in terms of biodiversity protection. However, it is also important to retain the protections we currently have around the environment for food production, and I strongly support them. If they are going to be undermined by the importation of goods from outside of the EU, which have weaker environmental protections, then that is a real problem. I absolutely believe that if we are going to impose costs on our farmers in respect of environmental protections, then we need to support their production, but we also need to strengthen those environmental obligations.

We must also compensate people appropriately.