Dr. Finbarr Brereton:

I thank Deputy Haughey for his questions on sustainable development. It tends to be a very contested issue in that the goals change depending on who is talking about sustainable development, be one socially orientated, economically orientated or environmentally orientated. As Mr. Michael Ewing has already pointed out, it changes if the economy is in recession or doing well. Research shows that when economies are doing well, people demand higher environmental standards. Therefore, the two go together - a well-functioning economy goes hand in hand with high environmental standards. They are not mutually exclusive.

On the issue of protecting the environment, research shows that, in terms of a cost, protecting the environment is a benefit to the economy. In terms of decoupling economic growth from environmental pressures, the European Union emissions trading scheme is an example of that, in that where our GDP has gone up, our emissions have gone down hand in hand. It is possible to decouple environmental issues from economic growth.

Senator Leyden mentioned the issue of climate change and the US potentially pulling out of the Paris Agreement. This is exactly where the European Union is so important. We may have a short-term political change but the European Union has minimum environmental standards that cannot be abandoned when a regime changes across the Union. It is very strong on that. For example, the United States would not be able to pull out of such an agreement if it was in a union like ours. Therefore, it is essential, in terms of environmental protection, for us to be in the Union.

With respect to the Chairman's question, he knows much more about the day to day running of a farm than I would ever claim to know. Even though I am from County Offaly, I know very little about running a farm. However, I would say that policies should be evidenced-based, and the European Union is very good at this. Whatever policies are coming from the Union in that regard, they should be based on best available evidence. Common sense may tell us one thing, but the evidence may say something else. That would be my suggestion.