Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We need a nature restoration law but like all laws, it needs to be workable. There were significant issues relating to this in its inception. I accept that considerable work has been done. That is the idea of negotiation and politics. We get to something that works. I would like to think that nobody is going to stand up and say that we are not in the middle of a biodiversity crisis. The figure about 1 million species facing extinction will not leave my head. In fairness to Deputy O'Rourke, he laid out the particular key performance indicators, KPIs, that are not going in the right direction in this State and across this island. That is what we need.

It is fair to say that public participation is a necessity. It makes absolute sense. We all know about the issue across the board with the farming community and others. They realise the issues and want to work on them but the problem is that we have not had much co-operation and at times, whether in here or outside, people just shout at each other and work for particular constituencies, which is not always helpful. If we are going to put schemes in play, there needs to be funding. That makes absolute sense. Moreover, it has to be outside the Common Agricultural Policy. There will be unintended consequences. What we are saying about rewetting makes sense, which is that it is voluntary and not mandatory. If there are unintended consequences from the rewetting of public lands, these issues should be dealt with. Regarding the socioeconomic impact, of course it makes sense for any plan that is put in place to have the ability to be revised and checked on the basis of how it has an impact.

I will say something about farmers that I have said before. This State, the Department, Teagasc and others went out to agriculture consultants and others and asked them at one point 20 years ago if they knew any young fellows who would be interested in being dairy farmers. They made incentives and went out and hunted. If the Minister of State wants to bring about changes, he will have to engage with farmers and rural communities properly.

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