Ms Oonagh Duggan:

A big chunk of the funding is going to the co-operative projects. This is one element of the agri-environment scheme and it would be good to see more funding go to that project to widen its scope. That is the main chunk of that percentage I was talking about. We do not know what the call will be for the breeding wader programmes for birds, for example. That will be a specific scheme. We believe that should be in the region of €30 million to address breeding wader declines. That funding is going to support farmers on the ground and it is targeted. We would also like to see more linkage between the existing measures that are in the agri-environment scheme, like the Natura and commonage payments being more lined up with the conservation objectives of the different sites so they can help improve those areas. Many of those would be peat habitats. To improve the quality of the habitats, there could be a carbon dividend there.

In all of this, there is a good news story to tell once you start seeing a reversal in declines. I am tired of talking about the decline in farmland birds. We need to be talking about success stories. Farmers can help with this but we just need to get more money to them to support and incentivise them. Diversification to support farmland birds is an ecosystem payment. It is an ecosystem service and payment for ecosystem services. Society wants more biodiversity, not less. There is a good opportunity here if we just target that money more to where it needs to be.