Mr. Niall ? Donnch?:

There is a confluence of two issues here. I am sure members are familiar with them. The national biodiversity action plan will be published in the first quarter. That is anticipated to include 100 to 150 of the recommendations of the citizens' assembly. The nature restoration law to which I referred, which was agreed at a trilogue at the European Parliament, obliges Ireland to publish a national restoration plan by 2026. One of the areas to be covered in that national restoration plan, which will probably give the Deputy the kind of metric he is looking for, is the removal of barriers in the river network. That will probably give one of the building blocks.

The Deputy is absolutely right about geography. Implicit in the national biodiversity action plan are our obligations under the Natura directives. Those special areas of conservation are by definition geographically based. Similarly, the SPA network is geographically-based. We are looking at significant expansion of the SPA network as we speak, mainly in the offshore arena. What we do not do, and I do not believe it is feasible for us to do it, is metrics on a county level. However, we can do it at a habitat level. That will come through the work that Ms Carbery is doing on the nature conservation side. I am not sure if that addresses the Deputy's point or if it is helpful.