Mr. Ian Lumley:

In response to Deputy Michael Collins, in the coalition's submission on the climate action Bill, extensive consideration is set out on doing our fair share and all sectors needing to play their part in climate mitigation. If agriculture is somehow to get off the hook, which is the argument that seems to be advocated, that means other sectors such as the energy and transport sectors will need to have a much great level of emissions reduction to meet the targets. The viability and feasibility of that within the time period simply has not been demonstrated and neither has it been demonstrated by those advocating that agriculture is a special case. Also, the arguments being made that the herd numbers could not merely be maintained at the current level but could actually increase are based on offsetting models that are simply not realistic and do not address carbon losses through continued land reclamation and drainage, extensive consideration of which is set out in our submission.

I am a completely unpaid volunteer for An Taisce, as is Mr. O'Boyle. Our committee structure is voluntary. We are the advocacy part of the organisation. We do not get any direct State funding for our advocacy work in making public interest or public health based submissions on planning applications or larger projects, whereas environmental organisations in other European countries are funded to provide that public interest service. The funding allocated to An Taisce goes through a separately administrative unit under a reporting structure to the board of An Taisce but in which the advocacy side has no involvement. The organisation is the complete opposite to being Dublin-based. We are in fact quite disappointed that compared to rural schools and communities, Dublin and the larger cities have been behind in embracing the green flag movement. The majority of An Taisce's staff members, relative to their qualifications, are not spectacularly well paid, certainly when compared to private consultants or even people in the public sector.

Those in An Taisce work around the country, which is difficult now due to Covid because they are no longer able to able to have direct visits and interaction with schools. That is a difficulty we all face. It would be much easier to interact if we were all in a committee room together. The Deputy can be assured An Taisce's education programmes are based on international accredited standards under the European Foundation for Environmental Education. We see the green flag flying and it carries the logo of the European Foundation for Environmental Education. Green flag award programmes operating in different European countries all receive government support.

All of their work packages and dissemination of information are approved by relevant Departments. In terms of promotion of environmental awareness, auditing over the years has found that grant funding to be very good value for money regarding the wider societal benefit it brings.