Mr. Fintan Kelly:

On the mechanisms and how we might encourage better engagement, I strongly believe there is nothing as powerful as a good example. We have seen that with the Burren Life programme. That is a very simple idea that has gone around the world, and Ireland is now one of the leaders when it comes to results-based agri-environment schemes. It has had a very positive impact on communities in Ireland and throughout wider Europe.

We must identify the win-wins. We must go down on the ground and try to get as many of them implemented as possible. When we do that, we have to see how we take the next step, that is, how we take these lessons we have learned from these case studies and implement them nationally. That is something we have not done enough of. There have been many good targeted schemes, such as things that have found solutions for how to address water quality issues and whatnot, that just have not been rolled out. That would be one suggestion. We should try to be better at identifying best practice then rolling out the results from that.

Another suggestion is we really need a properly funded National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. Our rangers are the people on the ground who are engaging with communities on some of the most difficult conservation issues we have in the country, and the NPWS has been cut to smithereens over the years. That originally came from an attitude that any environmental regulation was bad, but as that has played out, the result has been much worse for communities because we have had no engagement, we have ignored many issues and it has got to the point things have had to go to Irish courts or EU courts. Then rules have come in a very abrupt way that has not improved the situation. We must get much better at recognising the need for grassroots engagement and ensuring we fund the positions and the people who can deliver that at a community level.