Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

May I just make one statement? I have a real fear that when it comes to this issue and dealing with emissions within the sector, the Minister is putting his head in the sand in the same way he put his head in the sand when it came to the derogations. That did no one any good because now we have thousands of farmers who thought that things would change for them and that they would be able to continue with business as usual but Europe has come in and said business as usual is not acceptable. The fact that it appears the Minister is not even investigating this seriously indicates to me that he is walking those farmers off a cliff again and that he is still in this mode of business as usual, whereby we can try to expand the markets internationally without acknowledging or reflecting on the fact that we have to change how things happen here. Farmers have to be supported to make those changes, but there has to be honesty from the Government and from politicians as well to say that changes are needed and will have to happen. The Minister has to work with them to do that. I have a real fear, in that what he said indicates that he will not do that. Essentially, we will have a whole sector in which, when we get to 2030 and have to reduce emissions quickly, the herd will be the quickest way to do it. I issue that warning to him because he is doing the agriculture sector a disservice by not acknowledging what needs to happen and what needs to be done.