Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

That is great. One of our difficulties is that we have lost trust in nature. We are so used to engineering our way out of problems that we just do not trust nature's response or nature-based solutions. In instances where hard engineering solutions are being put in place, are nature-based solutions being incorporated upstream at the same time? This would be as a pilot to show exactly how they can assist and mean the downstream engineering works are not needed as much. The UK has done incredible work on this. It is putting a lot more effort into nature-based solutions. It would be good for us culturally to get to this point. We will need to prove them to people because there will be a lot of fear about loss of land and loss of homes. Education is very important. The UK is also undertaking a programme of rewiggling. This is to bring more natural dynamics back into river systems that have been straightened over the years through arterial drainage programmes. Is this something the OPW is considering? Has it looked at rewiggling any rivers?