Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 October 2019

Public Accounts Committee

2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants

9:00 am

Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

That is a really big question. It is a fact that we are the most climate-efficient dairy producer in Europe and probably the world, and the fifth most efficient producer of beef. The objective of the Paris Agreement was to give every state a target. It has already been said here that unless every country has a specific target, it is difficult to achieve gains. Determining what should be produced where involves big geopolitical questions and significant economic effects, sometimes affecting developing countries. While I accept the Deputy's proposition that we are very efficient, it is very difficult to translate that into global policy because doing so has very significant effects.