Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Coming from the heart of rural Ireland, climate change is probably the biggest issue of our time. We talk about the CAP and Brexit, but this is an issue that is not going to go away and we have to deal with it. Agriculture has played a huge part in improving the position in the past while, but it is not getting the credit for it. We have four farming organisations represented today that are stating more or less the same thing. However, there is a group that sees agriculture and the farming sector as having a detrimental effect on the environment. Do the delegates agree that it is now time to have a common agricultural strategy to include all farm organisations and industries involved in agriculture, with a view to promoting what is good and what has been done efficiently in the past few years?

It has been the good news story. We talk about GLAS and TAMS. They have been very beneficial in recent times but many people do not appreciate or accept that and still point the finger back at agriculture as being the root cause of the difficulties we face. There is a huge selling job to be done - this is a personal opinion and the witnesses might disagree with me - to promote what has been efficient and beneficial for agriculture in recent times. Do the witnesses accept it is now time for a common agricultural strategy in this regard?