Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for the clarity. Unfortunately, the misinformation came from him. It was he who said that there had been the first meeting of stakeholder engagement. I am glad he has corrected the record. However, it is fundamental to the success of any policy that all stakeholders are included and that the Minister of State does not pick and choose to decide on the agenda, particularly an agenda that may not suit.

To be fair to the NARGC, I have attended many of its functions where thousands of euro were donated. The organisation has cross-border engagement with other countries, such as Norway and the other Nordic countries, with representatives coming here. The NARGC gave me my first introduction to conservation. It does it really well and I cannot see why anyone would be at odds with it. The NARGC has taken judicial review proceedings based on the lack of evidence that has been provided to remove four species. That is not the forum any of us need to be in.

Two days ago, I watched the committee proceedings with representatives from the NPWS. I have great time for Niall Ó Donnchú. However, I heard him use the phrase "based on scientific evidence" a number of times. That scientific evidence has not been provided or does not correlate with the actions that have been taken. That is where we have gone wrong here. It is imperative that rural stakeholders have the same level of engagement as NGOs, which are probably in receipt of some funding, whereas we have a voluntary organisation doing wonderful work. I have seen at first hand its conservation efforts.

I do not see why we should be at odds with one another. I again ask the Minister of State to ensure that when he refers to all stakeholders, he specifically mentions the NARGC.

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