Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will do that.

I have two final points. Dr. Delgado Rosa talked about consultation. I spent 15 years in the European Parliament and I know how it works. There is no consultation on the percentage of areas and that is already decided, the targets are there and we know where the drained peatlands are, so there is no consultation on that. There will be a lot of box ticking and there will be meetings but at the end of the day, the decisions that are already in place are really what will stand.

There was comment from a number of colleagues here today about putting people off land. Dr. Delgado Rosa quite rightly said that is not the Commission's intention and I agree with him, but the truth is that it will be the outcome of this legislation in certain areas and certain places. A significant percentage of Irish drained peatland will be rewetted and that means that in those areas, we are looking at people not being able to stay on the land. There will be no Commission official waving a document at somebody but it will be the outcome in certain places. Dr. Delgado Rosa is a European citizen and so am I.

Many European citizens are concerned about this. We need to be fair and reasonable and not say that none of this will impact people who are already farming or put people off land because it actually will. Dr. Delgado Rosa knows that as well as I do.