Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Owens for his opening statement. It was very thorough, which we certainly appreciate. Members may indicate and we will make a list. I will go first.

A big part of the discussion in the previous part of the meeting was about the alignment of policy with the challenge we have. Mr. Owens acknowledged towards the end of his statement that many of the very good policy instruments and funding streams he mentioned are perhaps not directly targeting biodiversity, but there would be knock-on benefits that are very beneficial. I have a bit of a concern there might still be a misalignment there. In many ways, I wonder whether Mr. Owens would have said a bit more about the alignment or lack of alignment had he the benefit of hearing the previous discussion. He might have expanded on where we need to get to vis-à-visthe taxonomy. We are certainly going in the right direction when it comes to trying to drive carbon reduction, but perhaps it is not going so far in trying to drive nature restoration. That is only a suggestion and the officials may tell me otherwise if they wish. Has the Department done its own analysis on tax policy, on the taxonomy and the alignment or misalignment and on what the effect of that might be on biodiversity and nature loss? I would appreciate it if the officials could comment on that.