I was in west Clare the previous weekend.

I will be heading back out west again this weekend. One thing I believe to be absolutely true is that it is in all our interests to stop the destruction of the natural world which has occurred over the past 50 or 60 years - within our lifetimes.

We are not disconnected from the natural systems. If we lose them, we will not be able to restore them easily. We need to protect our water, our soil, our air quality and our land and the ecosystems within them. That is good in the long run for farming, forestry, tourism and so many other industries that bring wealth and prosperity to our country. We will work collaboratively and collectively on that. Obviously, it will not work if it is someone telling someone else what to do and how.

However, ignoring the biodiversity crisis and ignoring the destruction and loss of the natural world that has occurred in the past 50 years serves no one's interests. We have to look forward, restore nature and ensure that we maintain our prosperity in that manner.

It will be accepted if we provide an income-----

If I may make my point, it will be accepted if we can, in restoring nature, provide an income-----

-----to a new generation of farmers, foresters and people to look after the natural world. That will be a far more secure, a far more profitable and a far more prosperous future.

That is absolutely achievable. It will not work-----

I have just as much an interest in the prosperity and the future of the Irish family farm-----

That is absolutely connected to protection and management of that land.

We will need people, young and old, who see that the care of their environment and of their local area is central to what they do. That aspiration and that instinct belongs to everyone. It does not belong to any single party one way or the other, but we will not-----

We have to work now to find a mechanism whereby we can do this in a way-----

-----that guarantees the future of the family farm, and that is what we will work towards with the European Union.

I thank the Chair for facilitating the question and the response. The extraordinary energy council meeting on 9 September in Brussels was to exchange views on the energy situation in the European Union. The meeting was split into two parts, with the first session covering policy options to alleviate the burden of high energy prices. The second session was on the state of play of the preparedness of member states for the coming winter. In respect of higher energy prices, the council discussed in private session four…

While that was a key matter for discussion, there were different consequences for three members of the European Union: us, Malta and Cyprus. At an earlier meeting of the European Energy Council there had been agreement that we would not have to apply in Ireland the same mandatory reduction. It was also recognising the reality in our case that we are connected to the UK and Norwegian gas markets and are not dependent on Russian gas in the same way. Therefore, any requirement for us to reduce our gas use by 15% would…

In response to Deputy Stanton, inframarginal pricing is the right measure and one which we are looking to implement. There are complexities involved in it. It will apply to the likes of wind farm or other generators that are generating without the impact of the high-input gas price and are therefore likely to be making a significant profit. Inframarginal pricing will not apply where they have a long-term contract or where a cap is in effect. It will not apply to the recently agreed renewables projects because they …

-----I would love to hear it, because the complexity and design and development of energy markets is not something that one can be easily categoric about. It is complex. What was also considered by the energy Council, and what we are intricately and centrally involved in the European Council - the Deputy is right; it is a joint competence - is the conducting of a wider review, starting with recognising that it takes time. If anyone thinks that we can change the energy markets this winter at a click of a finger, the…

As the Deputy will know, I have to be very sensitive because we are in the middle of a budget process. My Department and the Department of Finance have been exploring the potential to collect a portion of these windfall gains with a view to using the proceeds to support energy consumers. Subsequent to this, there have been significant developments at EU level, which we just discussed. At the Council of energy ministers on 9 September, which I attended, the issue of windfall gains was discussed in some detail. Outli…

I agree with the Deputy that the proposals coming from the European Union are just one element. They are among the four pieces in the jigsaw of measures that we will need to implement, as I mentioned earlier. We will not have the full details on them by budget day. We will have a rough estimate of what implications it might have for Revenue but it is only one element of the response we must take. What we need to do is to continue with last year's process, which included a combination of social welfare measures targ…

I meet the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, every couple of days and, leading up to the budget, I am sure it will be close to daily, in my capacity as the head of two Departments and as the leader of my party. Last night, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and I met the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform. We have had a series of those meetings where we consider all of these issues. To respond to Deputy Ó Murchú, we need to get windfall taxes in. They are an important part of the process. It will not be easy …