Mr. Eddie Punch:

There has been a complete lack of engagement with the stakeholders who are expected to implement this. Decisions are being taken and visions are being outlined at a high level in Government about what we are going to do and achieve while there is an awful lot of uncertainty. We do not know precisely how much methane is being emitted by cows when they are grazing. Teagasc thinks it has been overestimated. That is not going to be examined until further peer-reviewed research is done. We do not have a baseline on how much carbon is already stored by farmers. That work is ongoing. It means there is a huge problem in figuring out how we will give credit to farmers in the future for the sequestration of additional carbon. The EU is still working out how it will deal with the question of carbon credits. Work is under way at EU Commission level on this. Again, this is a work in progress. Farmers are being asked to do a whole lot of things when there is much ambiguity around emissions, sequestration and carbon credits. Anyone who tells Deputy Danny Healy-Rae that they know exactly how many cows are going to be affected by this is guesstimating. This is the problem we have. There is a huge amount of uncertainty.

As for emissions, the targets set in the context of climate change are from the inventory. The inventory is one way of measuring it. The problem, which New Zealand and other countries are finding out about, is that the use of feed additives may not work very well with grazed animals. On the other hand, however, progress is being made by getting more productivity from the same cow or beef animal. It is well known that Ireland is a leader in emissions per kilo of output of dairy and is a close runner-up in emissions per kilo of beef produced. All of this is being done without regard to what is going on in other countries. The issue is that if we cut back our cows, someone else will take up the slack. There is a level of insanity around this based on decisions being made that are a vision of what is the most virtuous thing Ireland can do and whether Ireland can be a leader. There is no proper understanding of the precise mechanisms to achieve these grandiose visions. It is time for some serious straight talking on this. The Taoiseach and the Minister are in Sharm El-Sheikh making more grand announcements about what we in Ireland and the rest of the world will do. They have not really engaged with the farmers who are meant to deliver this on the ground, however, and that is farcical.