Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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I thank the witnesses for all of their work in the assembly and for presenting today. To give a short answer to their question to us, we need to look at the detail of all of the recommendations because they are very solid. Two recommendations in the governance section have struck me, with regard to making sure there are regulations that business and industry must work in a green way, and making sure that existing environmental protection laws are being enforced and money is put into this. Conor spoke about seriousness. If we are serious about this we will try to make sure there are regulations and laws, because our job is to make them, and make sure that they get enforced so they are not gestures but something serious.

A few areas in the recommendations are very interesting. David spoke about recycling and reusing. An area the recommendations zone in on is mining. We need minerals for the climate transition but we also want to make sure we protect the environment. How do we make sure we reduce the amount of mining we have to do by reusing materials, for example, the precious metals that we have in computers, phones and cars? Perhaps David might like to say more about this. I think it is very interesting.

Our guests also talked about business. It is not just about adding in environmental businesses or industries but changing what we do and doing things in a different way. It is not just about adding an environmental option but changing what we might normally do in business. Our guests might wish to comment on that point. One area that is strong in that regard and which is a big change for Ireland to make is with respect to meat and around considerations such as the size of our national herd. The assembly has many recommendations around the need to reduce the size of the herd and includes many detailed ideas.

Eleanor mentioned the global piece. Is part of that responsibility to ensure we make decisions on biodiversity and also make decisions that support biodiversity in other parts of the world? We need to ensure we are not pushing industries, including the meat and dairy industries, on parts of the world where it might diminish their environment and biodiversity. Perhaps our guests could talk about the global piece. How do we ensure we do business in a way that is good here, good for others and good for the planet?

There are great recommendations for national parks, which is an issue I care about. I am trying to bring in legislation around Coillte and Bord na Móna, which has 8% of all the land. The assembly's report talks about giving more land over for biodiversity. I liked that the report refers to urban land as well as, say, our forests and other areas we can turn into national parks. It acknowledges the importance of biodiversity in urban lands.

I love the following recommendation, which I have not seen before. We, as a committee, should try to bring it forward. It relates to creating a network of wildlife corridors, paths, tunnels and bridges across Ireland. It is the idea that when we do planning, we also plan for how wildlife will move. It is like the pollinator plan for bees, which I am sure the assembly discussed, and their pathways. This recommendation is thinking bigger about wildlife and how it moves across the country. That is another part of transport.

I would be interested if our guests could talk more about any of those areas. I thank them again for all their work.