Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister might read Conor Purcell's article in The Irish Times today. I do not agree with everything the Minister is saying. Last March, he said that nobody in the Irish Administration ever suggested that agriculture was going to reduce emissions long term. In July, he assured me here that the mitigation and adaptation plans for the agriculture sector were on their way and were being informed by scientific evidence and research findings. Does the Minister have further information on what a mitigation plan for the agriculture sector might look like and how it might be consistent with increasing the output of the meat industry?

The Minister said that it would make more sense for the burden of emissions reductions to fall on other sectors of the economy. We all know that agriculture is hugely important to Ireland. It is our best indigenous industry by a mile and it is right that it gets great support from the State but does the Minister not think that we must rethink how we help it? Can we continue to increase the cattle herd and beef production and meet our environmental targets as well? The Minister says that the two are consistent but it is very hard to see how that is true.

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