Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

No, they are not. Deputy Aylward is probably far more knowledgeable in this area than I am, but it is my understanding the REPS which became the GLAS was a rural environmental scheme which had nothing to do with carbon emissions. It involved maintaining hedgerows, wildlife and so on. If money is being given to farmers to benefit from the carbon trapping potential of trees, why is it not being given for the many beautiful fields of green pasture in County Kilkenny which are trapping the carbon we produce every day? Are we separating the plants that merit a carbon tax? Who makes that decision?