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

Are we not a little foolish to wait for Europe? Generally, agriculture may be 3% or 4% of Europe's emissions. For us, it is approximately 40% of the non-emissions trading system, ETS, which is the stuff we have to take responsibility for. We are in a completely different environment than most of Europe. The way Europe has treated the issue of methane has not been helpful to farming like ours. Can we push ahead of the European posse on this because it makes such a difference? Would carbon farming include, for example, a farmer deciding to be less intensive, to reduce the herd per hectare and get an immediate reward for the methane reduction that delivers? We need to have new tools in the armoury other than those the farming debate is centring on and that has become quite divisive at times.