Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We must continually look at this year on year. That is why the climate action plan and the annual plans that each Department and Minister must put together are reviewed, looked at and updated annually. That is why we have this process as well in terms of engagement and accountability. It is something we have to look at on an ongoing basis.

Things are evolving rapidly. I gave the example of feed additives. In our agricultural emissions profile, about one-third is related to nitrous oxide and CO2. Most of the one third is nitrous oxide which is related to chemical fertilisers and a small proportion of it is CO2 from machinery use, for example. Over the last two years we have seen a 30% reduction in the use of chemical fertilisers, which is phenomenal progress and a great achievement. The other two thirds of emissions from agriculture relate to methane, which is direct from livestock. There has been research on feed additives. Our own domestic research has shown that with house systems you can achieve a 30% reduction in methane with the exact same number of animals, which is significant, and applying the research to pastoral systems is being looked at too. There is a lot of attention and research going into what additional steps we could take. We are partnering strongly with New Zealand, for example, which is most similar to ourselves internationally in terms of being a grass-based grazing production system and jointly investing in research projects there. We have to look at that, continue to monitor it. We should be doing that on a year-to-year basis.