Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

In launching the national climate policy review in November 2011, my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, confirmed the objective, in line with the programme for Government, to introduce climate legislation within the lifetime of the Government. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, announced a three-pronged approach to the development of a robust and comprehensive response to Ireland's obligations, challenges and opportunities in the area of climate policy. These included a public consultation process, which ran from February 2012 to end April 2012, to ensure that the widest possible range of views is brought into the debate on future policy; an analysis by the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, secretariat of future policy options; and ongoing work, through the Cabinet Committee on Climate Change and the Green Economy to drive sectoral progress on emissions mitigation. As part of its analysis the NESC Secretariat has been asked to examine options for policies and measures to close the distance to Ireland's 2020 targets and the development of a basis for a long-term 2050 vision for a low-carbon economy.

I realise the Deputy's question relates to the challenges for the agrifood sector. When one takes out the traded sector in terms of emissions, namely, the 106 biggest emitters in Ireland that will be part of an EU emissions trading system, 40% of Ireland's emission problem comes from agriculture and food production. If we are being asked to reduce our emissions by 20% as a country, from the base year until 2020, that is a huge ask for the agrifood side. In my view, when those targets were set, Ireland's burden, or the target set for us, was inappropriate. That has been shown to be the case since, in terms of the figures that were released recently. Nevertheless that is what we are dealing with now.

I have made it clear at a European level that I believe there is a contradiction between climate change policy, on which the European Union is rightly trying to give global leadership, and food security policy. The reality is that Ireland produces food at one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world. In other words, the carbon intensity of food production in Ireland is lower than it is practically anywhere else on the planet yet we are under pressure to limit food production in order to meet climate change targets. That makes no sense.

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