Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This is a very interesting session and I thank our guests for their presentations. What I take from what has been said is that ownership of the problem is key. We have a real problem in Ireland in that none of our farm organisations take ownership of the problem and our Department does not either. How do we address that? That is probably where I want to go. I will quote a submission the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine made here to provide an example to our guests. It states:

Methane, which is [the] predominant emission from the agricultural sector at approximately 60%, has a 12-year cycle after which it breaks down. The knowledge relating to that involves identifying that if this is the case in practice, provided that methane emissions do not go up, it does not have an additional global warming potential as a consequence. That is why the primary focus of our interventions is on carbon dioxide, etc.

Can our guests comment on that and say whether it is reasonable? Given that it comes from the Department with direct responsibility for dealing with this situation, it demonstrates the scale of the problem we face. I ask our guests to talk a bit more about the French example and changing production. Who is saying that? Is it the relevant Ministry in France? Is that who can start the conversation we need in Ireland? Dr. Aubert referred to the requirement to provide ways to off-set residual emissions from other areas of the world which are more densely populated. That is the responsibility of Irish agriculture. Can he talk about that also? It would be horrific for Irish farmers to have to think that.