Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy

Carbon Budget: Climate Change Advisory Council

2:00 am

Photo of Malcolm ByrneMalcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I have to disagree slightly with Senator Higgins. It is as important for the developing world that it has access to artificial intelligence and its potential. I do not think we should be making it a binary choice between sewage treatment plants and access to AI in the developing world. It is the same in Ireland. A binary choice should not be presented between housing and our digital future as some would seem to suggest. It comes back to the question of abundance.

I would challenge Deputy Ahern's assertion that agriculture is being let off the hook. The targets are quite ambitious and I think the council has analysed issues around land use. A critical issue regarding how we ensure that the agricultural community meets its targets is working with farmers, who are front-line workers, and those in rural communities. Has there been analysis done of issues around land ownership because one concern is the changing nature of farming? We are either moving to large-scale corporate farm operations or the main form of income is off-farm income and farming is, for want of a better phrase, part time. The policies we pursue in encouraging people to farm in a greener fashion may have an impact on the social fabric of those farms and whether they continue. Success lies in supporting those farmers on the ground to do things in a greener way because farmers will respond, particularly if we pay them to do so. All the evidence is there. The mistake we made in farming for a long time was to focus on productivity rather than on profitability. I am curious about the council's modelling. I accept that it has been done on land use but my question is more around ownership and the social impact of the policies we might pursue.

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