Dr. Maria Snell:

I will start with the first question, on the data. There are a few different parts to the chain. Data collected by the EPA give us certain information on the status of the river. There are a few steps to come back from that, one being that farmers, especially young farmers, are very keen to have a data-driven approach. We now live in a world in which data is driving every part of our society. There is a hunger for informed management practices. While we can get a water quality test or soil test done, it is a question of interpretation and the meaning of the numbers. It is then about implementation. There are a few steps concerning how data can help us.

As already mentioned, one of the key things is to have the advisory capacity and diversity of knowledge within the system. At the moment, it is at capacity. There is a heavy administrative burden on it and this is acting as a significant barrier in getting critical advice onto the ground. We have to be able to access the data, understand it and make it meaningful so practices can be changed.

We have to understand why it will benefit the business. Ultimately, we are trying to run businesses and be profitable while also delivering for the environment. We need to be cognisant of that.

Generational renewal policy is put out on its own but we need to think of policy in a more coherent structure. The environment is really important but we also need the younger generation to come through. If we do not have people to farm and look after the land, that will create problems of its own. As we move forward, we need more coherence in agri-environment policy. We need to look at this in terms of water quality accounting systems. We have different systems for carbon and other areas of the environment and we need to break this down for water so that farmers can understand.

Ultimately, it comes back to a collaborative approach of adoption and that is why it is so important that everybody plays their role. There is a certain economy of scale here. We need a certain amount of buy-in of a large enough area before we can effect change. That is the nature of catchments. Of course, it is not only farmers who are living and working in catchments who need to get involved; we need all of society to buy into this and to move forward. We have to follow the data.

That brings me on to the Leas-Chathaoirleach's next point around what can we ask. Time is the critical elephant in the room here. When we put in these measures, it takes time for them to go through. It takes time to put in slurry storage, for example. There are significant barriers. For young farmers, planning permission and access to finance are parts of the process as we are starting up and our businesses are in their infancy. We feel like there should be prioritisation for young farmers in order for us to have the kind of capital we need to invest. If we can effect change in our generation, that will carry through for 30 or 40 years and thereby bring legacy and permanence to this area. However, those who are starting to bring through this behavioural change in our cohort do not necessarily have the capital that other more established businesses would have. It is really about bringing everybody together.

I suppose the same is true for AD. We need to look at all the different ways we can come together to have this. It is definitely part of the solution, but we need to be innovative in our thinking about how we find a solution for Ireland. We can look to our counterparts across Europe to see how they have had trade-offs. Ultimately, we need to find a workable solution. We need to bear in mind that rising costs are a significant barrier for young farmers. We can have AD but we need to think about the cost of moving slurry to a plant and back again, how we do that and what infrastructure we need to safely store nutrients on the farm. We have to think about what assistance in this regard might look like. I will hand over to Dr. Hanrahan at this point.