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

I thank the guests for their presentation. How did they find the process of each of them getting a card indicating which member of the community they were when they were addressing the issue? That is often the biggest problem we face as a community. If you are a farmer, you see things differently than if you are a member of an environmental organisation or a businessperson. How did that work for them? Much of our problem is how to mobilise people who come from all those dispersed points of view and get them to agree to a programme. The very same issue that confronted the guests and to which they took that approach is what confronts us.

Other speakers have said what our job is now. We have to take the headings the guests have given, which are similar to the citizens’ assembly – education, governance, the various sectoral areas, species and so on – and come up with practical proposals around enforcement, funding, change and regulation. We have to come up with a suite of things we think will drive this agenda on.

In respect of my own personal interest, I am keen to plug the notion of the circular economy. The idea behind the circular economy is that the cycle of everything we do should be examined, from choosing the materials that make up products right through to what we dump or do not dump, and apparently two thirds of what goes into the black bin should not be there at all. I think that brings the community together. The farmer has a responsibility but so do we as consumers, as well as the businesses retailing and the manufacturers. I think that if you create that bigger tent, you have a better chance of pulling people together. I have done much work on the circular economy, so that is my personal “What next?” response.