Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses to our meeting today. I will kick off with some elaboration on what was a most comprehensive submission. Indeed, I do not need to ask for any elaboration on it because it is one of the most comprehensive submissions that I have seen. I compliment the witnesses on that.

Submissions aside, I read the An Taisce mission statement. I will quote one line from the fourth paragraph. It reads: "We know that this cannot be achieved by local or national actions alone." I would like the witnesses to elaborate more on their involvement on a European and worldwide basis. Specifically, I am interested in the actions that we might take here to fulfil our environmental requirements, needs or aspirations, which can and will possibly in turn lead to carbon leakage, and how the witnesses buy into the whole global scene. We are discussing the plan from an agricultural perspective today. The most recent and high-profile case in which An Taisce was involved in concerned its objection to the plans for the Glanbia cheese factory. Using that case as an example, if An Taisce had been successful and blocked that project, the market that that factory was going to be supply would be supplied by some other market. For the purposes of the discussion today, let us say, for example, that it would be supplied by the south American market, where the cows are being grazed on land that has been generated from the removal of rainforest.

The actions of An Taisce in that case were well-intentioned and I am not criticising them. However, I would like to hear how that one particular example of An Taisce's actions possibly could have had a knock-on effect to create serious carbon leakage, and how the witnesses see that fitting into the overall global context outside of just the Irish situation.

The first line of the mission statement reads: "An Taisce is a charity that works to promote environmental awareness..." If I am honest, I only know of An Taisce through the green flags that are flown in the schools. The name of An Taisce comes up in association with objections to planning applications. How does the organisation justify objections to such applications and going as far as objecting to proposals of An Bord Pleanála, as a good method of promoting environmental awareness, when each time this drastic action is taken it turns individuals, companies, industries and in many instances communities, against the organisation, which in turn has a negative effect on what it is trying to promote, namely, environmental awareness? Is there not a process whereby An Taisce can engage earlier with those people involved and collectively collaborate and work together and hopefully end up promoting environmental awareness, rather than in many instances leaving a sour taste in people's mouths in that regard?