Ms Oonagh Duggan:

I support Dr. Farrell's comments. Farmers have not been found wanting in responding to results-based agri-environment schemes, where results can be seen on the ground. They should be rewarded for those activities. There is great scope for increasing CAP funds in the strategic plan to help farmers not only to restore peatlands but to undertake landscape scale restoration for biodiversity, and that is about restoring habitats, as well as supporting or restoring semi-natural grasslands and wetlands all over the country. It is an exciting time and we must recall that we are in a biodiversity crisis as well as a climate crisis, so we must really work together on this.