Mr. Thomas Ryan:

Carbon credits bring the matter of the carbon sink into play. We do not feel, as a sector, that there is a fair picture of farming where climate is concerned. That is because methane and nitrous oxide are counted and accounted for but the carbon sink from our forestry, hedgerows, grasslands and permanent pastures are largely ignored, with forestry beginning to be involved. Ireland has the largest permanent pastures in Europe, yet there is no carbon credit or recognition for that. This all relates to keeping farmers engaged. If we look at forestry alone since 1990, some 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide are stored that could be accounted for from 2021 to 2030. That will probably come into play in 2025. The EPA has done work on between 0.5 and 2 tonnes of carbon on our soils. Where is the value of that coming back into the sector when the magic 20 or 21 million tonnes are compared to agriculture? We contend that it is absolutely not a fair reflection on the sector that methane and nitrous oxide are counted.

Let us go a step further and look at the landscape. Deputy Ryan referred to a land use strategy. Whatever the committee's view might be, more than 200 wind farms are offsetting approximately 3.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. That is happening on our landscape. If we look at the landscape and landscape contribution, since we are all tied up in the methodology, we are blocking a really positive discussion that could take place about carbon stores. We are all concerned about 2020, when in reality, if we do not make progress on the carbon sink discussion, we will be here in the run-in to 2030, having an identical discussion. It is a barrier to positivity in the discussion. The value is there and the more quickly it is recognised, the more positive it is for engagement.