Mr. Pádraic Fogarty:

I thank Deputy Cronin for the points she raised. She raised the issue of holistic thinking. One of the big problems we face at the moment is that Government policy in one area is directly at odds with laws and biodiversity policies in other areas. For instance, there is currently a draft of an agrifood strategy that will be in place until 2030. This foresees more growth, more productivity and getting more out of the land when we know that nature is already suffering as a result of our current levels of productivity.

The Deputy mentioned communities. I get emails and phone calls from people around the country nearly every day. I frequently get calls from people who are next to tears because their local beauty spot or nature area is being destroyed or is under threat from some quarter or other. There is an enormous sense of powerlessness over that. People do not know how the State works. They do not know how to stop things happening. That leads to an awful sense of disenfranchisement in the countryside and in cities with regard to trees and unwanted industrial developments.

On the other hand, we know that communities are ready and willing to engage on this issue. There is a great example in Abbeyleix in County Laois where a local community has basically taken over the conservation of the local bog. In contrast with many of our bogs, since this community went in, the bog has been growing. It is now healthier than it was 20 years ago. The group is removing invasive species. There is an enormous sense of ownership of that project among the local community. We know we can do this - the template is there - but we need to get Government on side. We need all of the policies to align and we need to make it easy for communities to create their own nature reserves or to raise concerns over the quality of their water, their local trees or whatever it happens to be.