Mr. Brian Lucas:

Based on my experience of many trips to Brussels on peatlands issues, in response to what Deputy Fitzmaurice asked as to whether I saw any point in a virtual delegation going there, the short answer is there would be no point.

The first thing the Commission will say is that we have a dual consent system in place and that this is in compliance with the directive. It will then ask what we want to do instead. As I said earlier, if we try to say that we want to bring in a temporary system that would not be in compliance with the directive, with no appropriate assessment and no environmental impact assessment screening, the Commission would say, "There is the door, please leave". I do not think that would be a runner.