Ian Marshall (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Justice Laffoy for her presentation. I certainly welcome this comprehensive and credible report that is a credit to all those involved. It is important to contextualise all this. Reference was made earlier to this. When some global leaders are completely in denial about climate change, we must bear in mind that there are some countries where climate change will present opportunities rather than a threat. It is important to recognise that some of the melting of polar ice cap will incentivise and encourage people in areas where there will be an opportunity to grow crops where previously it had been impossible to do so.

A cheap food policy was never going to be helpful in terms of climate change and was always going to be a major concern. Reference is made in the report to the make-up of the assembly. It states the membership was a randomly selected group that was broadly representative of Irish society. Even though agriculture and transport are big players in this discussion, I am not sure they are reflected in that grouping. They could be under-represented, although I stand to be corrected. We have failed to acknowledge the gains agriculture has made in the past five or six decades. Since the Second World War, the environmental impact per kilogram of beef and per litre of milk has been significantly less than it was previously. We skip over this very quickly and do not recognise it.

When we consider emissions, climate change and agriculture we need to be careful about calculations because in hard-and-fast scientific terms, if we want to reduce our carbon footprint, we will have to have massive feed lots, feed thousands of cattle in one place and produce beef very cheaply and in a very cost-effective manner with a lower carbon footprint. The same applies in the dairy sector. However, that is not how Irish agriculture functions. We need to be cognisant of protecting that. It is about sustainability. The environment is one element but it is important to recognise that there are social and economic issues relating to sustainability as well.

We also need to be careful about unforeseen outcomes of some the measures that are considered in this report. I am familiar with a business on the south coast of England that grows asparagus in a field from which the factory in which it is processed and the supermarket in which it is sold are visible. They are bringing in asparagus from South America with a lower carbon footprint than that grown on the south coast of England purely because the kilograms of dry matter in South America are three times that found on the south coast of England so the kilograms of dry matter offset completely the transportation element. We need to be very careful when we consider documents like this. As industries, agriculture and transport are very much long-term games and we need to be careful that we do not have quick-fix solutions to problems that we could regret in the long term.

Ireland has responsibilities, as have many other countries. It is not always necessary to be a pioneer. There is much good science out there that already demonstrates things we could do that would reduce and mitigate climate change and our impact as human beings. The science exists and we need to take it on board. It is important to remember that it is often the second mouse to the trap that gets the cheese so Ireland needs to be careful. We do not need to be first.

Climate change does not recognise borders. Reference was made earlier to collaboration and co-operation. All the solutions are not to be found in Dublin, Cork or Galway, just as all the solutions are not to be found in Belfast, London or Paris. I encourage everyone involved in this discussion to look more closely at collaboration. I know there is fantastic work in Queen's University Belfast on wave energy, energy efficiency, reducing our impact in agriculture and many other areas. Collaboration is important as is recognising the value of that collaboration. We cannot solve all of these problems.