Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. I listened with interest to this particular subject. It is very close to my heart. I want to make it work. However, I want to eliminate contradictions. Again, for example, Mr. McCabe referred to the midlands and the Bord na Móna shutdown. When one shuts down first, one then creates a problem for selling the argument or the case that one wants to sell. Therefore, a replacement needs to come first, or the replacement needs to be in place. For example, we stopped the use and production of peat. I understand all that. However, we replaced it then by importing a replacement from Germany for the horticultural sector, of which we have a huge amount in my own constituency, right across the midlands, across north County Dublin, and all the other places. It is very difficult to make the farming community understand or even to make me understand the logic of that. I would have thought that we would have first done one part of the job and reduced by a gradual process the dependence on peat in the horticultural sector, before cutting it off and going in the other direction. The danger is that we will never get away from dependence on imports.

My last point is simply that there is a huge amount to be gained from a clean environment. The agrifood business has much to offer. However, it does not any credit for what it already does. For instance, it does not get any credit for the benefit of hedgerows or for the growing of trees. We hear about the re-wetting of the countryside. Those who live in the countryside quickly point out to us that a large proportion of the countryside has been re-wetted often enough, particularly in the last six months or so. It does not need any help in that direction. It is a natural thing.

I would love to see a situation where the experts can engage with the agrifood productive sector, which is the backbone of our economy, when it comes to working our way out of a difficulty. They should engage with those in the sector to try to understand the position they come from, and the position we have to achieve. The agrifood businesses will do that, are capable of doing it and want to do it. Let us not forget that they have been managing the rural environment for centuries, for millennia. The longer that this debate goes on, the more important it is that we understand each other. I speak as a person who lives in and works for both the urban and rural communities. We cannot get by without both. We need a mixed and balanced economy.

As the Chair knows, during the economic crash, I spent most of my time apologising to economists. I do not disrespect to anybody. Many of the economic theories did not work. They all told us what we should do and what would be best. They were all wrong. That is the sad part about it. We had to, therefore, do it the hard way in this country. We dragged ourselves up by our bootlaces through the medium of the agrifood sector, in particular.

I disagree entirely with the notion that we do not make a contribution. Given our methodology in the agrifood business, we already do what they cannot do in other parts of the globe. They are saying that if we make all the sacrifices that we are going to make a major contribution. We can make all the sacrifices we need, but unless there is global co-operation in this area, with India, China, the United States, and so on, we are not going to make any major impact on what we need to do-----