Ms Grace O'Sullivan:

I thank the Minister of State. She has our full support on that. It is critically important that we recognise that any transition has to be a fair and just and that we leave nobody behind.

I would like to bring to the attention of the Minister of State legislation I worked on in regard to the eighth environment action programme. In the European Union, there has been no law or directive on soil health. I know this is of interest to the Minister of State. I recently managed to get the eighth environment action programme over the line. It will be signed off and voted on in plenary in Strasbourg next month. I managed to put into that programme the deadline of 2023 in respect of which we would have soil regulation in the European Union. It amazes me that we have legislation on air quality and clean water but we have no legislation on soil and soil health. That will be critically important as we go forward. We will have this legislation by 2023. As MEPs in the European Parliament, we will collaborate to make sure it is sound and robust and that it will recognise the importance of carbon sequestration and how healthy soil helps to sequest.

A Senator mentioned the importance of food and how we grow it. The Minister of State is, I know, pushing very hard to ensure we increase our organic production. As she has often stated, it is through having the right tree in the right place that we will see more healthy forestry. To grow that food and those trees, we will need healthy soil. I am very proud that by 2023 we will have legislation on soil in the EU.