Sophie Toscan du Plantier was brutally murdered outside her home in Kealfadda in Goleen - in the parish in which I live - on 23 December 1996. Twenty-seven years on, her death continues to enthrall the world but remains a blight on our island. Sophie's father is now 97 and her mother is 92. They and Sophie's son Pierre Louis want justice immediately in this case in Ireland. The French courts convicted a murderer in absentia. On 29 June 2022, An Garda Síochána announced what it called a cold case review. In the month of Sophie's birthday, can the Government intervene with An Garda Síochána to speed up this review and bring the murderer, who is out there at large, to justice in this country and bring this sad tragic case to an end?

The Tánaiste is a proponent of the nature restoration law. I have reservations regarding who will pay for the measures that will inevitably be necessary. I will give two examples. The first relates to agriculture. It is essential to pay farmers properly for their produce if you want them to produce to high environmental standards. I proposed looking at the cost of production and determining the minimum cost of production as part of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine said we could not do that because we export to Great Britain. A gap of 60 cent per kilogram has opened between what farmers in Great Britain are paid and what farmers here are paid, even though the majority of our beef goes into that market. If the Government is not going to support farmers for what they are not going to be able to produce as a result of increased environmental standards, will the Government at least make sure they are adequately paid for what they are producing?

There is a marine component to the nature restoration law that is extremely important. If they are lucky enough, families from all over Ireland will be going on holiday and the really lucky ones will get to go to places like Spanish Point and Carrigaholt. However, there are a number of communities that lack sewerage infrastructure that are located beside special areas of conservation, SACs. The local authority has no responsibility and Irish Water is not interested, so there is no sewerage system in Carrigaholt or Spanish Point, which are situated next to SACs. These are communities that want and need to develop. What is the State going to do in the context of putting sewerage systems in place?

On the question from Deputy Michael Collins, I have always said that the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier is a stain on Irish society, as is the fact that there has not been a resolution of the case. Our thoughts are with the du Plantier family, particularly in view of the trauma they continue to go through as a result of the unresolved nature of this case. However, the Government cannot intervene with An Garda Síochána with regard to the cold case review that is under way. It would be inappropriate for the Government to ever involve itself in any crime investigation. This is an operational matter for An Garda Síochána and that has to be the position.

I am a bit confused by Deputy McNamara's contribution. We are satisfied that the nature restoration law can be done out to 2030 and 2040 utilising State-owned land in terms of restoring nature. It needs to be restored on land, in the marine environment and in urban areas. Everybody talks about rural areas but nature must also be restored in urban areas.. That is why I said State agencies, Bus Connects and the NTA cannot state that they are going to take a slice of an amenity or a public park and use it for a transport corridor. They cannot do this so we need a change of mindset. We need to restore biodiversity. We are losing it too rapidly. One part of carbon tax revenue goes towards funding farmers who are improving environmental standards. I would envisage that in the future we should pay farmers as guardians of our biodiversity and our landscape. We already do this in the context of some schemes, but we need to expand it and provide alternatives that would facilitate native woodlands being brought back. It can be done. A new ombudsman will be appointed as a result of legislation brought in by the Government and championed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine will look at pricing issues and transparency. This legislation will provide far greater price transparency in terms of products.