Dr. M?che?l ? Cinn?ide:

There was a question about environmental courts and if there were any other examples. The State of Vermont has a very well developed system of environmental courts at state level, which I suppose is equivalent to the District Court here. I attended a talk given in Trinity by a judge from there to the Irish Environmental Law Association. The IELA could give the committee advice on that area.

Going back to the question from Deputy Bruton about countries that are doing it better or that we can learn from, I agree fully with what Dr. Moran and Professor Crowe have said. In a way, the answer to that question is similar to the answers to those from Deputies O'Rourke and Paul Murphy about process and how we do it. What we learn from some of those countries is that their process is different in terms of long-term thinking, providing the data and making the space for consultation. It is not vested interests in a narrow room somewhere that are deciding food policy for the next ten or 15 years, which is what we have had when we look back. It is correct to say that people did know in 2008 and 2010; I was a director of the EPA and there were reports presented to the Food Harvest planning group about what the impact would be of scaling up the dairy sector in terms of 1 million tonnes extra of carbon dioxide emissions, regional impacts on water quality and impacts on biodiversity. It was known. It is not a surprise or a shock, or it should not be. What was missing was the process. Now we are arguing for and people here are talking about a more transparent, inclusive process where citizens are more involved. That is what we learned from the other countries. It could be one of the take-home messages for the committee that process is as important as specific targets.

Then there is the tone of what we are trying to convey. The tone of what is coming out here is very much taking this thing seriously and saying it has to be at the centre of the debate, not pushed out to the side. That is what we learned from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Costa Rica. I am familiar with a lot of those countries and, over a long period, they have definitely evolved more respect for nature and climate as part of their public policymaking. That is what we learned.