Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)

Apologies have been received from Deputy Barry Heneghan.

First item on the clár is engagement with the agricultural sector on climate change targets, 2026 to 2030. The purpose of meeting today is to start a discussion with the goal of the committee identifying 15 to 20 barriers that will prevent Ireland from achieving its short-term climate change targets for 2026 to 2030. The committee wants to take a pragmatic approach to identifying 15 to 20 barriers across all sectors, the elimination of which the committee will advocate for. The committee will work towards those aims.

We are engaging in this topic on a sector-by-sector basis. Today, we have witnesses from the agricultural sector. Today's meeting is split into two sessions. In session 1, we will engage with representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Teagasc. In session 2, we will welcome representatives from the Irish Farmer’s Association.

I welcome to our meeting the following witnesses from the Department: Mr. Bill Callanan, chief inspector; Ms Michelle Corrigan, principal officer; Mr. Liam Brennan, senior inspector; and Mr. Fergus Moore, senior inspector. From Teagasc, we have: Dr. Pat Dillon, director of research; Dr. Karl Richards, head of Teagasc climate centre; and Dr. Kevin Hanrahan, head of rural economy and development programmes. They are all very welcome. I thank them for coming.

I remind everybody in attendance to ensure his or her mobile phone is on silent or switched off. Before I invite witnesses to deliver opening statements, I want to advise them of the following in relation to parliamentary privilege. Witnesses and members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that they comply with any such direction.

As regards the format of the meeting, I will invite witnesses in turn to make opening statements to a maximum of five minutes. Once the opening statements have been delivered, I will then call on the members of the committee, in the order that they have indicated to me, to put their questions. We operate a rota system, which provides each member with an initial five minutes to engage with our witnesses. It is important to note that five minutes is for both questions and answers, and therefore it is essential for members to put their questions succinctly and witnesses to be succinct in their responses.

We have session 1 today, followed by session 2 and a private session regarding the report on the carbon budgets. There is quite a bit to be done, so co-operation on the clár will be welcome. Please note that the duration of this meeting is limited and, therefore, times must be strictly adhered to. I ask everybody to focus on his or her contribution.

I will ask the organisations to deliver their opening statements as follows: first, Mr. Callanan from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, followed by Dr. Richards from Teagasc.