Mr. Charles Stanley-Smith:

What has happening recently is a very strong collaboration between the PPNs, including the resource workers network and the secretariat network. Members from each PPN come together to talk about the whole thing. Under the newly proposed changes to PPNs, there will be much more openness and ability to collaborate and co-operate.

I refer to the report from Kerry, which everyone in PPNs has because we share things. Climate change, water quality, which is coming up soon, and biodiversity are the topic of national as well as local consultations. There is a great body of people right around the country willing and able and who understand how to participate. One thing that needs to be done, to which we have alluded many times, is to somehow ensure that people are only consulted once. We do not want a whole lot of people coming in every other day.

When PPNs were first set up, there were no resource workers. We ran Tipperary PPN for about a year and a half or two years, and it actually drove us all mad. We said that it needed a resource worker, after which resource workers did come in. We are not funded to do that higher level of consultation, although we have the ability and willingness to do it. Other Departments will have to chip in with considerable amounts of their consultation budgets. One would then be talking to the people on the ground and it is the only way one can do that. This is a call from PPNs: we will do it, but you have to fund us.