Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their wonderful presentations. There is general agreement among most members of the committee on the importance of the preservation, protection and restoration of elements of our environment that impact so much on biodiversity that they have led to a loss. There are differences of opinions as to how we achieve that. I would like to hear any examples the witnesses have of countries we could look to in terms of how they have achieved those protections, whether by way of primary legislation or otherwise. Not every country has a constitution but they all have certain legal structures that can offer more profound protections. It would be interesting to hear about any such examples.

Are the witnesses aware of any polling that is being done on this matter? While I absolutely agree with the necessity to do what we are all talking about doing, I have concerns about a referendum. Dr. Kelleher talked about expert groups, academics and environmentalists working to get the wording right. I am around politics long enough to know that when an issue is put to the experts and then the common man or woman looks at the text, people will very quickly find a five-second explanation that, while it may not address the complexities of the issue, will become part of the vernacular and can lead to the referendum going the other way. We have had various referendums on proposals to give more power to Oireachtas committees. Those proposals were dismantled quickly when the debate started. I am afraid that if we rush too quickly into a campaign, we may undermine what we are all trying to achieve. The issues must be appropriately thrashed out and discussed.

It has happened during the various debates on EU referendums, whether the Lisbon treaty or the Nice treaty, that somebody introduced the canard that there was the potential for children to be rounded up or young men to be conscripted into a European army. One could not convince some people at the doorsteps that it was anything other than that. I say "Yes" to what we are trying to achieve while urging that we hasten with caution in assuming this will be a slam dunk because we as a society have reached a general understanding of the importance of nature restoration, protecting our environment, dealing with climate change and protecting biodiversity. Everybody is for that until somebody starts to unpick the various issues. Anything the witnesses could say to us about that would be helpful.