One minute
What are your party’s policies in relation to our natural environment? If you have none, why not? Do you accept that combating climate change must be a top priority of the next government? If so, what concrete steps would you take to achieve this?
Two minutes
What alternative energy technologies should replace fossil fuels? Do you support current strategies to greatly expand dairy and beef production? If so, how is that strategy compatible with your climate change policy? How do you propose to deal with climate change impacts, such as flooding?
Three minutes
How should our water resources be managed to ensure high-quality drinking water, catchments and coasts? Do you see environmental regulation as an obstacle to development, or as an opportunity to restore and enhance the natural capital and environmental services on which all our other wealth depends? How can we account more fully for the value of environmental services in our national accounting system?
Four minutes
Should the government incentivise farmers, especially small farmers, to stay on the land, and reward them for environmental stewardship of our landscapes? Should the government incentivise businesses to recognise the full costs – and benefits – of their environmental impacts on our wider society, and take responsibility for them?
Five minutes
Should we wait for directives from Brussels to restore and enhance the health and value of our degraded landscapes? Should we not be the first to cherish this core aspect of our national heritage? How can semi-state bodies with responsibility for vast natural resources, like Irish Water, Coillte and Bord na Móna, best manage them?
Six minutes
At townland, urban district and county level, what environmental initiatives is your party taking? How will your party ensure that planning is environmentally sensitive? Should the government provide more resources for environmental agencies such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Office of Public Works, and the Environmental Protection Agency?
Seven minutes
How can we better educate our children on the importance of the environment? How can politicians and state agencies better communicate environmental issues with the general public, and discuss them in less polarised terms?
