Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I have a couple of questions. Social acceptance and community buy-in was spoken about. That was something we discussed a lot with the groups that appeared before the committee previously. It is obviously very important because we are looking at potentially moving from ten to 20 AD plants in Ireland today to possibly 100 or 150. In many cases, we will see these plants being established in rural communities. We discussed the importance of early engagement, having that buy-in from the community, and the benefits that go beyond just providing for the local farmers. On the research Teagasc hopes to undertake on that, is it looking to engage with plants already in existence? Biocore representatives were before the committee. The example they used was a plant the company has in County Roscommon. They spoke a little about community benefit and actions Biocore takes locally. How does Teagasc see that research? Does it have a timeline for when it expects to complete it? That will be very important if we are to grow and ramp up as much as is expected.