Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Carthy has covered the majority of what I was going to say. From the answers the Departments have given, they have no idea at the moment how they can achieve 22%. How in God's name can they justify 22.01% at the end of negotiations when they do not know how they will achieve 22%? They are depending on emerging sciences and technologies and tests that are only at inception stage. As has been said, we are years away from carbon footprint audits on individual farms. From what I have heard so far from both Departments, they cannot tell us how they will achieve 22%. Going by what we are hearing from media outlets and other commentary, there is horse trading going on between two Ministers regarding it being between 22% and 30%. How can the two Departments involved in that horse trading, for want of a better phrase, justify 22.01% when they cannot explain how we are going to achieve 22%? In fairness to them, the farming community and the farm representative bodies - the people who are the custodians of the land and will ultimately deliver on this, with or without the science we are all hoping will emerge - have bought in and accepted 22%. If the Department goes to 22.01%, it will lose them as well. That would be a backward step. My basic question for both Departments is how can they justify an announcement of anything over the 22% that is going to be so difficult to achieve, especially when they have farmers with them for 22%? If they sell the farmers out now, they will be on the back foot.