Dr. Liam Lysaght:

I thank Deputy Cronin. Yes, it is evidence-based. There are big declines and we definitely need an emotional response. There is really no appreciation of the great loss of biodiversity which we have suffered. Anyone aged 50 or older will remember clouds of insect life at night in fields and hundreds of acres of species-rich meadows. The countryside has transformed. That is why I mentioned in my opening remarks that we have to be conscious of this shifting baseline syndrome. We have to be much more ambitious. The one thing missing in all of this is that we really need to have an ambassador or champion of biodiversity at a very high level within the public sector. This person would engage with the emotional response that is needed. That is missing. We are talking about regulations, plans and action plans but what about having a champion? Anyone of my generation would fondly remember the late Éamon de Buitléar and the way in which he was able to engage with people. We need a figure like him within the public sector to knock heads together and, while not forgetting about the plans, to come at the matter in a different way, to win people's hearts and minds and their support for what we are trying to do, and to present the matter in a more positive way.