I again raise the issue of the North-South interconnector and ask the Minister whether he has received the review of the interconnector which I have been sceptical of, if he could outline when it will be published and, most importantly, whether he will commission a full independent assessment of the potential undergrounding of this project.

I raised this issue with the Minister on 20 September and 7 April last, on 4 November last year with the Minister of State, on 21 April with the Taoiseach, and on 10 March 2021 and on 22 September 2020 with the Minister directly. Each time I have raised the issue with the Minister, he indicated his refusal to engage with local campaigners on it. Each time the Minister refused to accede to the demand of a full appraisal of the underground option of the interconnector despite the fact that a report the Minister cited…

The concept that public acceptance must be sought and earned by public bodies before they railroad their way through with an infrastructure project will be alien to the Minister. Experience tells us when you try to do this, you encounter delay after delay and wasted money after wasted money. This is what we have experienced to date. The Minister is simply blind to this fact. I want to see the North-South interconnector proceed. I do not know how many times we need to tell the Minister this before he stops with his …

It has not been done.

Then engage with the communities that will be affected by it.

The Minister should commission the report that is actually being sought. Would he do that?

I want to lodge with the Taoiseach directly my very real concerns about the direction of the forestry strategy in the State. There is a target in the programme for Government of planting 8,000 ha of new forestry each year. Our climate action plan assumes that we have been planting 8,000 ha of new forestry, but we are only managing about a quarter of that on an annual basis. It is getting worse since the Government took office. We hear lots of rhetoric. We are working on the basis of a forestry programme that dates …

That was felling; this is about planting.

Having listened to some of the Government representatives tonight I believe they either come from very different places than I do or they are not being forthright in the context of the reality of many people. I come from a county that has no real transport network whatsoever. It has a bus service that has actually deteriorated since this Government came into office. It is astounding that not only did the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, not participate in this debate, not a single member of the Green Part…

I welcome the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, and the Ministers of State, Senator Hackett and Deputy Heydon. There has been quite an amount of commentary about the EU nature restoration law. Unfortunately, that commentary is taking place in a vacuum because we have a Commission proposal but we do not yet have a formal Irish response. What have been the Minister's engagements to date? How does he plan to ensure an informed dialogue can take place in respect of this proposal?

I recognise that this is at an early stage of the process but we can see how the debate is becoming polarised. The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine has had two hearings on this. In one case we have had corrections to statements that have been made. We met with farm organisations, which are incredibly concerned about what this might mean. We have heard from environmentalists who critique anyone who raises any questions at all on this. We know that if we do not approach this correctly that it could…

It would be helpful if the Minister could confirm that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is carrying out an appraisal of the current proposals in respect of what they will mean for land holdings on a county-by-county basis, whether they will mean a reduction in the land that is available for agricultural use and, if that is the case, how that will be managed or how the Government will approach those discussions at European level. We are living in a biodiversity crisis and that will mean that major …

The Minister will be aware that one of the most hotly discussed topics in marts and elsewhere at the moment concerns the new TB regulations. I would appreciate it if he would outline his proposals to ensure farmers will not be financially penalised in the implementation of these new regulations.

The Minister is of course right that farmers are incredibly stressed when there is a TB outbreak on the farm, but they are also stressed by the failure to get on top of this issue. Since 2016, the TB eradication programme has cost around €100 million per year. It is estimated that expenditure up to 2030 will amount to a further €1 billion. The EU has reduced its contributions to the scheme precisely because it has not been working. Therefore, it is crucial that when we are talking about putting in place punitive me…

The key word is "partnership". This has to be seen as a partnership. It is impossible to quantify the damage done as a result of the categorisation letters issued by the Department. I realise that was before the Minister's time but relationships need to be mended. Lest people believe farmers are not contributing, they should note that in 2020, farmers contributed €37 million directly towards testing. They are paying €8 million annually in disease levies. The labour contribution that goes into it is unrecognised and…

Just to say to the Minister of State in respect of the export figures she is quoting, a large proportion of that includes all-Ireland trade which is not actually quantified because the Government does not identify it. If the Government has a real issue with exports, ban the export of peat from the island of Ireland. It will have the full support of my party in that respect. Here is the crux. Every player in the sector has told us that they are facing an existential crisis. I welcome the works that have been ongoing…

They are telling us they are in crisis.

Tell that to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage because it pointed to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

Absolutely.

Does the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, stand over those comments?