Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. It will be published in March and it is before the Department. Will the Department be making changes to it? Has it identified the new way forward and the transformative actions that are needed as a result of climate and biodiversity change and the pandemic? This will be a completely different plan if we are going to make language mean something. I pointed out to the Minister of State's colleague previously that it is beyond my capacity to understand how the indigenous industry of wool was never examined by the Department. I know that there is now a feasibility study but it seems it was a crucial industry that should have been examined ages ago. The same applies regarding seaweed. We have had no plan since 2020 so there can be no further delay in the publication of the plan.

Will the Minister of State clarify the sources of funding that will be looked at? I will re-echo Deputy Brendan Smith's point on local authorities. Only last week or the week before, Galway County Council did not have enough staff nor resources to run a basic sweeping service on the streets or a bulky collection service. It seems to be pulled in every direction with developers plans with no overall plan for the common good. It is something that I would like to return to. I am all for enterprise.

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