Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 4 May 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Climate Action Plan and its Implications for the Agriculture Sector: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Michael CollinsMichael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending. I have a few questions on the climate action Bill but I would like to comment on some of discussion from An Taisce's side. The witnesses said they have engaged in constructive engagement. I have never seen any such constructive engagement during my time as a public representative. I am deeply disturbed about the High Court challenge An Taisce took against Glanbia recently, which could have cost many jobs and much difficulty for agriculture. Our Rural Independent Group did some analysis on An Taisce recently. I stand to be corrected on this but from our analysis, An Taisce got taxpayer funding of more than €3.5 million in 2018 alone and more than €25 million during the past decade. That is a great deal of taxpayers' money. It is mainly a Dublin-based organisation. It has current assets of €2.25 million and had a cash equivalent of €1.5 million in the same period while it paid out a whopping annual staffing bill of €2.4 million. Can Mr. Lumley indicate where that money is being spent? I would appreciate that.

The big issue is climate action plan and I respect that is what we need to focus on.

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