Mr. Colm O'Donnell:

Deputy Ring is well known for being a straight talker in these chambers. He has come with something that is critical. It is something that everybody in the Houses of the Oireachtas needs to wake up and listen to regarding food security and safe food in particular. We have the highest standards in the world and we produce to those standards. When we link this to climate action and climate change delivery we must look at how and what the farming systems are. Given where Deputy Ring comes from, he is well aware of the extensive sustainable farming systems in his constituency. What comes to mind is that it is not the cow but the how. It is how the animals are reared, the environment and conditions in which they are reared and the inputs. The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, in its report in 2017, stated extensive grazing of cattle was positive for carbon sequestration and storage. We need to look at this. I do not suggest the polluter pays principle but we certainly need to look at this more in the round. We need to reward farmers who are doing the right thing.