Mr. Pádraig Flattery:

I do not share the opinion of the member who said there is no need to panic and we have enough time. There is certainly a need to panic as we are missing our targets for 2020 and we are set up to miss the 2030 targets. If by 2050 we are to be carbon-neutral or reduce our emissions by 80% or 100%, we are not on track to do it, even if we implement many of the recommendations of the report.

To focus on agriculture, my research was on soils and soil carbon in Ireland, taking into account the effect of extreme weather on those soils. Our natural grasslands are carbon sinks because they are grazed by cattle and they provide minerals for the soil. Those soils are carbon sinks in the same way that our untouched peatlands are. There are 7 million cows in Ireland producing methane.

I do not understand how we square getting to carbon neutrality by 2050 with retaining that number of cows. We need also to recognise the benefit the cows have to the soil. These are complex issues and communicating their complexity is very important, especially if we do not want an "us versus them" strategy coming out. Farmers are certainly looking after their land to the best of their ability as they want to pass it on to future generations. Focusing on the complexities of the issue is important but so is recognising the limitations of our current actions.