Dáil debates
Wednesday, 31 May 2023
Nature Restoration Law and Irish Agriculture: Statements
3:22 pm
Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source
Before I make my closing points, I acknowledge the confusion here. There is confusion for a very obvious reason, that is, there are currently two proposals in Europe. One of them is with the Council of the European Union, which represents national governments, and the other is with the European Parliament, which the MEPs discuss. They are very different. The Parliament proposal talks about a higher level of very strict interpretation that would be much more stringent, compared with the Council proposal, which is more conciliatory, if you like. Some Members of this House might be confused. I am not surprised members of the public are confused. Some Members of this House might use that confusion as a way of muddying the waters to try to score political points, but the fact is there are two different proposals and we are not at a final point. To talk about this as a binary proposal of nailed-on certainty is not right.
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