Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a mistake to pretend that there is an obligation to buy an electric tractor, stop burning turf or cut herd size. There are no such obligations in this plan. Those who are shocked or frightened should be reassured by that. Equally, however, we have to recognise that we are starting on a journey of change on which Ireland and the people whom the Deputy represents are extremely exposed. Many of our enterprises, farms, towns, villages and homes are at risk in a world that is changing rapidly. One only has to listen to young people coming home and saying that our generation is failing to understand that this is real. It is real in Kerry, just as it is real in any other area. If farmers want a future and want strong family farming to survive, they also have to start thinking about the changes that need to be made to copper-fasten the future of family farm income.

The sort of changes they are being asked to make are absolutely sensible. Many of them will pay for themselves over their lifetime. A new Common Agricultural Policy is coming and 40% of the income support for farmers under it will be dependent on farmers demonstrating that they are making changes that will improve the environment and reduce carbon impact. There will be recognition of farmers who are making the pioneering change but by making that pioneering change, they will also be better placing their farms to thrive in the future. I have been on trade missions and the people who buy our products are asking about their environmental certification. We are being asked to show evidence that the methods we use are sustainable. That is what is being asked. If we want premium margins for our agricultural produce because of its quality and Origin Green certification, we have to make these changes. These measures are in the interests of our communities, whether rural or urban.

In many ways they are more in the interests of rural communities, because of the exported nature of much of the produce of rural Ireland. The figure is 90%. They are dependent on these international markets.

Reference was made to the question of China and India. China and India are part of the United Nations agreement. They are making the changes but they are starting from a position of a far lower impact on global carbon emissions and greenhouse gases than we are. They are far below us. For us to say we are not willing to make the change because people in poor countries that are at a far earlier stage of development and that have not been part of the fossil boom should make more changes than us does not stand up to scrutiny. If we went to Europe or the UN and tried to advocate that those of us in Ireland, which is one of the wealthy countries, are going to sit on our hands waiting for China and India to make the changes, others would rightly say that it was a contemptible position to take up.

We have to be part of a change that has to happen globally. There is no easy way around this. If we want to pass on our environment in a better state to our children and the coming generations, then we have to start making these changes now. The window of opportunity to do that is narrow. A tipping point is coming when the environmental damage done by carbon emissions is going to accelerate, not decelerate, and these changes are upon us.

It is entirely wrong for Deputy Danny Healy-Rae's friend to suggest this part of an election result. This committee and the Citizens' Assembly have been working for months in detailed hearings. This was nothing to do with an election result. Having said that, the election result perhaps does reflect the importance this issue has for our world and our country. It is timely that we, as a political grouping of all parties, are showing that we are facing up to this. We unanimously adopted the plan produced by the committee, including the Deputy. There was not a single dissenting voice in declaring a climate emergency or in adopting the plan that is highly influential in what we are doing.

I believe these are the right things to do. We will try to ease the passage for people, whether farmers or householders. There will be supports from the State but we cannot pay for everything. We are going to have to try to design policies that help people to make these changes. At some point we will have to say it is time to stop doing X, for example, stop putting oil boilers into new houses. That is the sort of change I have in mind. It is sensible. Why commit or lock down houses into a fossil system that will become more and more expensive for households to run? We are asking people to do sensible things that are part of a pathway to help our communities to be resilient in future in a rapidly changing environment.