Dr. Aoibhinn N? Sh?illeabh?in:

Absolutely. I think this speaks to the fact that when members were doing this work and having these conversations, the climate change conversation was embedding in all of this. We specifically said that we are not going to look at recommendations for climate change but they are interlinked in that regard, in that our consumerism and resource usage impact on our biodiversity responsibilities, because pollution is a huge part of that. Recommendation 10 is that Ireland needs to recognise its global responsibility, including through local actions of consumers, resource usage, and so on. We also talked about how people would think about the broader economy and well-being and their own impact. Buying local, seasonal produce, buying organic produce and so on all contributes. There are specific recommendations on agriculture relating to that.

Reducing plastics and microplastics was specific to the recommendations on the marine. It was absolutely part of the conversations. The circular economy plays a huge role in this. The members of the assembly support what the State is currently doing in that regard to support those initiatives. That was definitely in the conversation.

On countries that are doing this well, I will refer to my colleagues on the advisory group too. New Zealand has struck me as one place that is doing good work in this regard. It is interesting that it has a whole-of-society policy on science and public engagement in this regard. It has also looked at protecting national parks, rivers and so on by working with local communities. It seems to have done quite well in incorporating indigenous communities in this conversations. Professor Crowe mentioned Denmark doing a lot. I spoke with colleagues in the Netherlands. A lot of work is under way there. The volume has been turned up with the maybe extreme debate that we hear, but I believe there is a lot of great work in the Netherlands, as Deputy Bruton said.