Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Sorry about that. I will not be too much longer.

I suggest that a consultation process should begin in the next three to six months and a new climate change strategy be agreed. It is important also that we communicate better with the public regarding the need for change in our habits in terms of dealing with our household waste, and also in businesses.

In dealing with the matter of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions for agriculture, I suggested in the committee recently that before we delve into reducing our cattle herd it is important that a serious debate take place, not alone in Ireland but within the EU, on the role of Ireland as the producer of quality food for the future. We are living in an era where there is a shortage of food and food is highly priced. The European Union can decide how it will distribute the cuts I have spoken about, and Ireland must play its part. It would be simple to do that. Cutting the herd would reduce the methane gas emissions but that would reduce the amount of food available at a time when prices are increasing and there is a shortage of food. Before we rush into that, the Government should insist that proper debate takes place on the way those cuts are distributed among member states. If Ireland is to be a food producer in the future, there should be recognition of our particular circumstances. That is vitally important.

Before we sign up to a final agreement, part of our negotiations with the EU must focus on the way we intend to deal with the area of agriculture and the role Ireland has to play in agriculture in providing food in the future for the European Union and the rest of the world. We cannot ignore that food prices have escalated, that there is a grave shortage of food and that the population of the world has increased from 3.6 billion in the 1960s to approximately 6 billion today, and that it may rise to 9 billion. People must be fed and as I told the House earlier in the debate, the head of the World Bank estimates that 3.5 million children will die of starvation this year because of malnutrition. We cannot ignore reality.

Before we finalise our agreement we must examine and audit the effect of these cuts in terms of jobs and business. We must plan for the future before any final agreement is reached.

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