Ms Oonagh Duggan:

It has affected some species, for example, the corncrake. We encourage farmers in places such as Inishbofin, Donegal and the islands off Donegal to use practices like centre-out mowing, which would give the chicks an opportunity to get out of the way of the mowers. Farmers would also be funded through schemes to delay mowing until after the chicks had fledged and had a chance to survive. There are ways of doing this. Through our conservation work, we test and trial methods with farmers on the ground. We also examine the experience in other countries. There are ways to help, but we need more habitats and we need more farmers doing this. The key issue is that there is not enough funding to target methods and help farmers to move in this direction.