Ms Oonagh Duggan:

I thank the Deputy.

Broadly, I think the question around how we address water quality and ensure farmers have livelihoods is well put. It is a difficult question to answer. The dignity of farmers must be remembered in this. This is their way of life and if they choose to diversify, they should be given as many options as possible. No farmer goes out saying it is his or her intention to destroy the environment tomorrow. No farmer does that. I am from a dairy farming background and that did not happen. By the same token, from that dairy background my father told us to stay away from farming because there was nothing left in it any more and that there was no money to be made after a certain time. This reflects our earlier conversation around a cheap food policy that does not seem to benefit farmers at the end of the day. My brother went back to farming but he is now doing free range eggs. He feeds 26 stores in Limerick on 2 acres, instead of using an 80-acre dairy farm. There may be options but maybe that is not the best option for everybody. I am not suggesting that as an option. It goes back to dignity, culture and choices.

We are absolutely reliant on farmers to protect a lot of biodiversity, including wild birds. What ends up happening is the changing of goalposts, changing of payments and insufficient payments being made to farmers to actually provide these ecosystem services. As for the nature restoration law, which I think will be a positive thing for biodiversity, climate and water quality down the road, we must ensure that farmers are paid very well for doing this. Whether it is in ACRES general or even in the co-operative projects, as far as I can see farmers are not paid enough to provide those ecosystem services that the public will benefit from. We need to get straight on ensuring that people are paid and compensated well for what they are doing and that there is dignity in that, too.