Dr. Matthew Crowe:

I will deal with the agriculture question. There is no silver bullet. My understanding is that that was discovered on a farm close to the coast. The cattle were grazing on a particular type of seaweed and then the farmer noticed differences in them. Work is ongoing. There is a possibility of an additive that could be fed to animals being developed at some point. However, additives have many downsides, including the possibility of trace elements being left. There are food supply issues which have to be thought through in this regard as well . Ireland's agriculture system is extensive. The animals are outside eating grass most of the year. This type of thing might be applicable in Ireland but it may be more applicable in systems where animals are indoors most of the time and fed in a different way. The issue for the EPA in respect of agriculture in the context of the plan is the policy statement states, "Developing an approach to carbon neutrality for agriculture and land use, including forestry, that does not compromise sustainable food production". That is a complex sentence. What we want to see - and we will work with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Teagasc and others - is the approach figured out sooner rather than later. This will get us into the issue of the balance between the way the land is used for agriculture and forestry and how peatlands are used and getting a much better understanding of how our land performs overall in terms of carbon. Depending on how it is managed, land can absorb carbon and be a sink for it or it can release carbon into the atmosphere.

We need to become a lot more knowledgeable on this issue in order that we can start to plan for carbon neutrality, where land in Ireland is managed in a way that it will be a net sink for carbon as opposed, in some cases, to being a source, as it is currently, particularly in the case of peatlands and the manner in which they are managed. We would like to see the plan developed sooner rather than later.