Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Regarding whether we should decrease the herd, we are not looking to reduce our food production. We are looking to reduce the emissions footprint. The parallel I would make is to 1998 to 2011. We just discussed the removal of dairy quotas and its impact. From 1998 to 2011, Irish farmers and the agricultural sector reduced their emissions footprint by 15%. That was prior to any climate action plans or the public policy emphasis we are putting on the issue now. Farmers, by doing what they do better and innovating all the time, reduced their footprint by 15% over that period. It increased because of the dairy capacity but over the last three or four years, we have seen livestock numbers plateau again. There was actually a slight reduction last year. Our objective now has to be to work together under the climate action plan with the various policies and supports we are putting in place to assist farming and agriculture to do what it already did before and reduce our emissions footprint in a proactive way while adding value to what we do in the process.

The LULUCF targets will be informed by the land use review and getting the fullest estimate of our national position. We will set the targets based on that. We are continuing the work in the meantime.