Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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I thank Professor Kirby for his thought provoking presentation. It certainly provides food for thought, no pun intended. Is there a need for balance here in Ireland? We should take into consideration our size as a nation, our impact globally and our ability to produce food. We should look at the global situation, particularly countries in south-east Asia and even eastern Europe that are driving clouds of emissions to the skies on a daily basis, and the significant impact that has when compared with what we have to do. I know we have to play our part, but surely there is a balance so that we do not strangle ourselves with further bureaucratic restrictions and directives on our ability to produce food at a time when half the world is starving. We have to decide whether food security, food safety and the provision of food is more important than the world we live in.

I am interested in Professor Kirby's statement that scientific evidence changes on an ongoing basis. There are scientists who tell us that no matter what we do on climate change, it will have very little effect and that this happens in cycles, be it every hundred years or over centuries. We can get carried away with this and with people like the professor and the so-called experts to whom he refers. I would be interested to know his definition of an expert. We have had experts in the financial sector like Mr. Fingleton or Mr. Dunne in construction. Are these the sort of people to whom the professor refers when he talks about experts? The ordinary people are probably the most educated of all, yet there seems to be no room for their thoughts to be taken into consideration.

I put it to Professor Kirby that the effect we have in Ireland is minuscule, no matter what we do. We can do ourselves damage ultimately. Most speakers have spoken about agriculture. Agriculture is the only industry that has saved this country in times of trouble, because 98% of what we produce in agriculture is exported. We are the closest to organic production of food in the world, because we produce our food in natural conditions. Compare that with the factory farming carried on in places like the Netherlands on the seashore, where animals never see daylight. We have to place more significance on what we have and then look at climate change from a different light. I am concerned to get this balance right. I did not hear Professor Kirby speak about balance today. He is very passionate about what he is proposing. We can work on that, but we should work on it on the basis that it does us least damage, that we are able to reach our food production targets and that we place more emphasis on the people who are starving in the world.