Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I apologise for having to step in and out of the meeting as I had business in the Seanad. I am sorry that I have missed some of the presentations and responses.

Teagasc had a synopsis of our responsibilities regarding greenhouse gases and emissions. The EU has set a target of 20% reduction by 2020 and a 30% reduction by 2030. The matter was debated in the Seanad recently, and no doubt in the Dáil also, and I refer to the pressure on the agriculture sector since one third of those greenhouse gases come from the agriculture sector, especially ruminant animals and their methane emissions, which is a big challenge. Teagasc has published four or five bullet points regarding its recommended strategy to the Government on how to address this. When I read that, and participate in a debate in the Seanad, I cannot understand how an industry solution that would assist us in the process and in reaching those targets would be limited. I would have thought one would incentivise the area. Looking at the overall responsibility, one third of greenhouse gases in Ireland come from agriculture, which poses a real challenge with which we must grapple. We do not want to harm our important beef and dairy sectors or the sheep and lamb sectors and here we have this industry-based solution.

Could we have a sense of the two Departments' views? The EU has laid out our responsibilities, which we accept as a country and a people. We must clearly make the case that they cannot ask us to meet those targets and put responsibilities on us but hold our hands behind our back when we have potential solutions, such as the industry-based solution presented here today. I appreciate that the Government is engaging with the European partners. Are we engaging robustly? Are we pointing out that we have been given responsibilities by the EU while it appears to be limiting our options for meeting them?