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

I thank the Minister. I have three questions. First, can he shed any light on the vexed question of rewetting organic soil? The committee had hearings where at least one person presenting said that across 400,000 ha., 10 million tonnes of carbon emissions were generated. It is a relatively small part of our land base but it is generating a massive proportion of our emissions, properly classified under land use. The target is to drain 30,000 of those by 2025 and 80,000 ultimately. That seems low. Are there particular obstacles? If the prize is so big it seems low. It seems that because the prize is so big, the people who have such land could be substantially incentivised to make it worth their while.

I want to probe the Minister on the carbon farming issue. I acknowledge there are issues around measurement and verification but the committee has been informed that the science is much more advanced than we are adopting and that Australia, New Zealand and other countries are doing this effectively with what is available. It may not be perfect but even if we were a bit out on verification or measurement the fact that an income stream could be created for farmers that would reward them for doing what is at the core of our challenge seems a massive prize to win. If we could design a process, albeit not perfect, and move ahead of Europe, not wait for Europe and, if necessary, pilot it in certain areas, that would be a positive signal that we are thinking differently and we are trying to do differently.

Finally, I appeal to the Minister again on the circular economy. It is not an added extra within the existing dairy, beef or sheep sectors because it addresses waste. The waste we generate in food, which is more than 1.1 million tonnes a year is the equivalent of 3.6 million tonnes of CO2. If the Minister got rid of food waste, he would meet the entire target that he had set for agriculture for 2025. That is not realistic, of course, but going along the chain we misplace that waste so it does not go back into composting but into landfill or incineration. We do not have package-free areas like they do in France so people do not have the opportunity of buying their food without the attendant plastic or whatever. It is right along the chain. The big advantage of this is that it is not finger-pointing at the farmers. It recognises that as a country, our consumption patterns, the cars we buy and all that, has a huge impact on climate, albeit maybe it is not on the Irish inventory. There would, therefore, be a better approach. Everyone is seeking to resolve this collectively rather than what I often find is finger-pointing at farmers because of the way we look quite narrowly at the emissions targets.