Dr. Deirdre Lynn:

They are very interesting questions. Regarding being overwhelmed, I am often overwhelmed by the sheer number of things we should be working on to address the climate and biodiversity crisis. In terms of trying to break it down for people, it is very important that we engage local communities. There is an appetite out there among local communities. They are willing to get involved. Once they are talking about it at local level, they stop feeling powerless. We are working with the Community Foundation for Ireland. We have co-funded some of its work under its environment and nature fund. This is to link up communities with ecologists to help communities to develop their own local community plans for biodiversity. About 117 of these community plans are being drafted. The next stage is for us to put some funding into implementing some of the measures associated with these plans.

On some of the other elements to do with the circular economy, the next generation is quite versed in this. I have a six-year-old daughter and she is already coming to me and commenting on recycling and turning off the taps. It is definitely sinking in for that generation.

With regard to how we plan to mobilise change and whether we are signing up to targets without having the means of implementation, the EU biodiversity strategy states we should use existing instruments to achieve the targets. This is where we really need to look at how we spend our money. A few years ago, I commissioned UCD to undertake research on biodiversity expenditure across government. The results show that approximately 10% of funding for biodiversity comes through the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Approximately 78% goes through the Department for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. This is where we need to focus. We need to look at how the money is spent and whether it is being spent effectively. There is a move towards more results-based approaches. We are using a lot of EU funding through the LIFE programmes to test and pilot work which is farmer led. We state what we want the habitat to look like and that when it does we will provide the payments. It is results based. We are looking to scale up a lot of this work.

The amount needed for restoration is significant. We need to look at private investment to support the restoration agenda. We are exploring this. We have set up the peatland finance Ireland initiative which will look at how we will be able to mobilise private finance for peatland restoration in particular. Many private companies are very interested in getting involved in the restoration agenda. We need to build the mechanisms. We need to make sure we have a code so that everything is transparent and what we do is scientifically underpinned. It is very important for us to work with local landowners.