Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I will focus on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The opening statement is disappointing to be honest. We have a horrendous biodiversity crisis. We have a report from the citizens' assembly speaking about the comprehensive failure of the State to address it. We know that agriculture, in particular big agribusiness, is the driving factor behind this crisis. What we heard from Mr. Callanan, and this is not personal, is that of the 33 actions identified as the Department's responsibility, 11 are considered implemented, a further 17 are in progress, and those not being implemented are considered to fall under the remit of other Departments. The Department is, therefore, delivering the recommendations of the assembly through a range of programmes. In other words, it is saying it is grand; it is fine. The Department is saying it is on top of this, when clearly it is not. The crisis clearly continues to get worse. I am asking for a written response, as we will not have time in this committee. I would like Mr. Callanan to go through each of the recommendations he considers related to his Department and show us what is happening on each of them, rather than telling us with a hand wave not to worry, and it is on top of this.

I will home in on some in particular. What is the Department doing about the recommendations to increase sanctions for polluters of water, some of whom would be large dairy farmers?