Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have two questions and will try to keep them short. The first is for Mr. Callanan. If the European Union agreed in the next 12 months to significant investment in a nature restoration fund to reward farmers for restoring nature, would this State be in a position to administer schemes? Have we schemes ready to go? Are we designing schemes? Have we the accounting mechanisms in place? What would be the barriers to delivery?

To Mr. Towey or Mr. Byrne, nature-based solutions, policy and practice were mentioned. Is there a cross-cutting? We heard earlier from people working in land use strategy. What are the barriers to delivering that? It is something that is pointed towards, but what are the barriers in policy and practice to delivering nature-based solutions? Is it in the witnesses' gift or is it a cross-departmental responsibility?