Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will put a few questions together. I am trying to get a sense of all this and where the witnesses are coming from, particularly Professor McMullin's comments about CO₂and the difficulties in sequestering or abstracting that from the atmosphere. Am I correct in deducing that, essentially, the premise is that farming per semay not have been the cause of the problem but is very much an immediate solution that is required?

The second question is in respect of purpose. Does that fit into the considerations of the witnesses as experts in this field, for example, if one is extracting a material or a mineral for use in a wonder drug to cure cancer versus extracting a material for use in the component part of a luxury yacht? They are two very different reasons. Likewise, do they make a distinction in terms of whether a product is required to keep people alive, such as food, or does that fall into their considerations? Professor Thorne mentioned that methane, when it is in the air, is no different, but I contend that the purpose of it is very different in that we have a growing global population that needs to be fed. How and where would he strike the balance in that regard? Ultimately, we have choices. The witnesses are telling us that the hard choices need to be made. However, if we go from the personal up to societal level, our environment Minister has a choice as to whether he gets a first class business flight or gets on the flight at all. He does not have a choice as to whether he eats, although he can decide what to eat. That brings me to the next part of my question. Do the witnesses see Ireland as having any role or obligation in respect of global food security and should that be taken into consideration at all?

There is a point that arises often in this committee. Somebody could suggest anecdotally that Ireland could stop food production entirely and just rewild the land that is currently being used to produce food. That would bring us a long way towards meeting our global obligations, but it would probably also increase global emissions because the food would need to be produced elsewhere. What consideration, if any, do the witnesses think we should give to the issue of carbon leakage or is it just a matter, as has been said by some guests previously, that we should simply concentrate on our own reductions and not pay too much attention to what the impact of that might be in real terms on a global scale?