Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The question I had intended to ask has been asked by Deputies Murphy and Dooley. It is on Ms Justice Laffoy's opinion of observing proceedings over the weekend. For the sake of discussion, if the ballot paper that was arrived at had been given to the participants and if they were cold called as part of an opinion poll or an information gathering exercise with that same ballot paper, from observing how the group had evolved over the weekend when they received the information from the expert groups how different does Ms Justice Laffoy think the outcome would have been?

I am from an agricultural background, and I am not here to defend it. When making the proposals and arriving at the outcomes - I refer to agriculture and the proposed emissions tax - how much consideration was given to the global aspect, given that this is a global issue? Take the example of beef production. If a greenhouse gas tax is imposed it will probably reduce our beef production. While we have a problem and we are not the best in the world, we are not far from the best with regard to our greenhouse gas emissions per kilo of beef produced. The Irish situation was the brief of the assembly and it is our brief. We cannot dictate to others. However, if we reduce our beef production due to this, our markets would then be supplied by South America, which will be transporting that beef half way across the world and whose production is not nearly as efficient as ours, even if ours might not be perfect. Was any consideration given to what part we play in the global jigsaw? Even if Ireland ticked all the boxes, solved all the problems and met all its targets, if other countries are not doing that the global climate change issues will not be solved.