Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is to do with the better energy warmer homes scheme and how we are going to fund retrofitting. I know of private sector contractors doing this work. Plenty of people are willing to do it. I do not know what the deficit is. Not only is future work being put on hold, contractors are not being paid for the work they have done. They wait for months. There is a problem in the SEAI, and I would like a clarification on when they will be paid. People are looking for their houses to be retrofitted. When will that be done?

Finally, I welcome the approach taken in agriculture whereby we will seek to implement the objectives in the Teagasc report, which provides a roadmap for this sector. Agriculture is big in our county because we do not have heavy industry. That is why it accounts for so much of our emissions. Several members of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine and I had occasion to meet delegations from China, Russia and other countries outside the European Union. They do not have a bit of interest in carbon emissions reduction. They wanted to compare notes on the experiences and challenges of farmers. Their farmers do not have the equivalent of the CAP. However I would like further strides to be made in recognising the efforts made to date by our farmers in the dairy and beef sectors and across the board in reducing carbon emissions per unit.

Our farmers should be championed for more carbon-efficient production. Food is not an optional extra. We need to eat and we want our food to be produced in the most carbon-efficient way. Our farmers should be championed for their efforts in that regard. There will be a big challenge in terms of our farmers being crucified over climate action while countries with which we compete and which are bigger markets into which we sell really do not care.