Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone for their contributions. I wish to start by fully agreeing with the IFA that this is not just an Irish issue. Greenhouse gases do not go up over a country and keep within its border; they go into the atmosphere. It is a global issue, and I fully acknowledge that the IFA acknowledges this. It was therefore really unhelpful for the Minister to say the other day that there is no contradiction between growing a herd and reducing emissions. Clearly, this is not in line with the reports that continually come before us, whether from Europe or the EPA or our own reports. They show us that agricultural emissions are increasing year on year and have increased for four out of the past five years, and the main contributor to that is the growing of the herd. I understand that the IFA is here to defend its members and their position but I also appreciate that people will find it difficult to be green when they are in the red. This is why the notion of a carbon tax that should be imposed on everyone, regardless of their circumstances, is not on, as proven by the people of France - the farmers and the workers and the people from villages, towns and cities. One does not impose a carbon tax on ordinary people who cannot afford it without providing an alternative. If people in this country had a great alternative in terms of public transport but refused to use it because they wanted to go in and out in their Ferraris, I would say, "Tax them to hell." They do not have an alternative, because we do not have good public transport. We have people living in satellite towns outside of the big cities who must drive in and out to work because they have no choice. If we were given the alternative, the carbon tax would be absolutely sound, but in this situation it is not. Neither is it sound for farmers, except, of course, in the case of big ranchers who make vast profits. I am an urban dweller and not familiar with who is who in rural Ireland in terms of agricultural production but I do know that there are certain types of farmer who are vastly wealthy, grow huge numbers of cattle and dairy herd and make a lot of their profits from exporting.

I wish to make a small point about the discussion about Food Wise and food production because this is also not just an Irish issue but a global issue. I was quite shocked to see Bord Bia recently spend an awful lot of its time, money and energy on promoting Irish beef and dairy in countries whose populations have never eaten beef or dairy, such as China and the Middle East, countries where there is no tradition of eating these types of food and no health barometer in this regard. Bord Bia is really pushing farmers to grow more cattle here for more exports. This just does not make sense because it is leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions.

I have a couple of questions. On the question of global food production, this conversation is really useful and interesting. I think it was the witness from ICOS, Mr. Spellman, who proposed that we should have a national forum on the future of farming. That is a brilliant idea. I am not as critical of the Citizen's Assembly as some of the witnesses are but I do not think the recommendations on agriculture are sufficient. I would like to know what they think of the idea of a national forum on farming and food production and how it might contribute to this overall plan to help us reduce our national CO2 emissions.

Lastly, I noticed in the submission from the hill farmers that there is a lot of talk of a national forestry policy. Do they believe that the policy as structured and implemented through and by Coillte is sufficient? If not, what must change to make our forestry policy more realistic, more long-term and more sustainable?