Mr. Thomas Duffy:

On convergence, our priority as an organisation is addressing inactive farmers, namely, those often called armchair farmers or who are drawing down payments while not actively involved in the sector. Our priority is ensuring that there is a strong definition of "active farmer". We have engaged with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine on matters such as minimum stocking densities and minimum cropping densities which would be appropriate in that regard and which would allow for such a definition.

There are certainly concerns that while we move to a more productive and environmentally-focused area that this situation could encourage an abandonment of land and, indeed, increase the number of farmers not actively involved in appropriate land management. As we have said, it is going to be a different form of land management depending on whether people are in Cavan, Laois or Tipperary. That is our key priority regarding that aspect.

Turning to the subject of capping, I will hand over to Mr. Dillon and he will run through some of the key aspects in that regard. I apologise, I omitted Senator Paul Daly's query on the agrifood strategy. Yes, we certainly find it a very challenging document concerning some of the elements it has proposed. We engaged throughout the process and, indeed, we gained key commitments regarding the role of young farmers, particularly concerning increasing the percentage of young farmers and moving towards a continuous professional development model, which we trialled through our Skillsnet programme, and developing a network for young farmers for recognition of their education, which is a key element.

The main aspect getting a great deal of focus is the 10% biogenic methane reduction target. We will not mince words. It is an incredibly challenging target for the industry to try to meet by 2030. If it is to be achieved, we will need to see major supports for the industry to adopt practice change and in that respect we are looking at the likes of the management of the national beef and dairy herds. In dairy, we know that extending lactations is a very successful way of reducing the number of replacements. Turning to the beef herd, changes in that area would include reducing the age at slaughter. Unfortunately, we have seen the age of slaughter increase as we have seen the increase in the percentage of dairy calves entering the beef sector.

We have welcomed the support for initiatives such as the sexed semen lab, which will allow higher quality beef semen to be used on the dairy herd and that will have a direct impact. As I said, it is still a very challenging situation. Regarding enteric methane, we simply do not have the silver bullet that other industries have available to us, such as moving to electric or renewable energies. We are some way from having market-viable feed additives. What we need to do in reality, therefore, is to look at what we have. Macra na Feirme has a position on the Ag Climatise document. We feel it is the appropriate roadmap, but we would like to see greater ambition in some targets, such as 100% of the herd being milk recorded and 100% of the national beef and dairy herds genotyped. Those are ambitious targets to set, but they are a way in which we can achieve this ambition.

We remain opposed to any limits on the national herds and certainly any mandatory calling. That is our position on the simple basis that any attempt at mandatory culling or herd limits will be fundamentally unjust. How could anybody figure out which herds are to be cut and what should be the percentages? Ultimately, such an approach would lead directly to lower farm viability and have a massive negative backlash. We are concerned about such a potential backlash from the farming sector and rural communities more generally against the climate action to which we are committed. I will hand over to Mr. Dillon now to comment on our position on convergence and capping.