Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, the assistant director of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS, with responsibility for monitoring much of the degradation of nature, said this is the first generation of officials to appreciate the damage being done and the last generation capable of doing anything about it. This was a striking comment to make. My worry is that doing these reviews and reports and encouraging companies to participate in high-level strategies does not square up to the urgency of what is involved here. To some degree, we need to bounce sectors into rethinking. Mr. Cummins put his finger on the issue here. There is a first-mover advantage. If the Irish food sector gets ahead of this curve and becomes the go-to exemplar of how to manage food waste, address the use of various pollutants that might cause damage, minimise packaging, get consumers to be more alert to the way they consume, etc., it will be a win-win outcome.

I cannot see the action needed here coming from a fringe Department, be that in the context of the NPWS or having the issue of the circular economy wedged in as one element in a climate challenge that preoccupies that Department. We must, therefore, create something from within the enterprise sector to be the actor that bounces change. The easiest thing to do would be to follow the Dutch example, which has opted for sectoral compacts around circularity. This approach includes energy use, the extraction of raw materials, processing, primary production methods and packaging and retailing. This type of undertaking creates a sense that we are all in this endeavour together, so that the big beasts, be they the dairy or the beef processors, are involved, as are their suppliers.

Is Mr. Cummins' Department thinking of this? I put this question to representatives from Enterprise Ireland and they were not adverse. Obviously, though, they are not policymakers, no more than the witnesses are. There is a need for the Department, as the witnesses are its first generation of officials to realise where we are going and what we need to do, to create something in this regard by looking at other countries to discover what has been best practice there and then come up with a tool that could make the difference here for Ireland Inc. I am not expecting the witnesses to answer this query but this observation is one the Department's management board advising Ministers ought to consider. If it is agreed that sustainability is the key to long-term competitiveness for the country, we must put it up there in lights as to how we are going to deliver it.