Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their interesting presentations. As the Chairman said, there was great depth to them. Following on from Dr. Farrell’s statement that this is an evolving situation, much of what we are attempting to do is at the cutting edge of our understanding of systems, their capacity to capture carbon, the impacts on diversity and the level of interactions. When discussing any ecological system, action in one area may have an impact one could never envisage in another area. We are learning a great deal as we go. Do we have enough data and information and is enough money being put into research on these issues? This is a question for the four witnesses. Are we putting enough money into research without seeking an output from it? Sometimes when we put money into research, it is for a specific purpose but sometimes we have to do it for the sake of research to get the results we need. Do we have those data?

Dr. Farrell mentioned that a quarter of our peatlands are now grassland. What percentage of our natural peatlands are in their natural state or have been remediated? What proportion is in public ownership, which would make it easier to address than dealing with land owned by private individuals?

On forestry, what is the percentage of clear-felling that is applied across the State? What percentage would come under the continuous forestry model Mr. Purser referenced?

I read recently that BirdWatch Ireland had updated the red list, which now includes 54 species, an increase of 23. I find it baffling, and this does not only relate to bird species, that scientists identify particular species that could potentially become extinct or endangered and we do not immediately put an action plan in place to deal with that. They go on the red list and then we forget them until they disappear. Would an action plan be useful or is it an approach we should be taking?