Dáil debates

Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Agriculture and Fisheries Council Meeting: Statements

 

2:20 pm

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is my next point. I find it intriguing that I am the only Deputy the Minister has chosen to interrupt. I am glad to see the Minister is continuing in this Dáil as he left off in the previous one. If the Minister does not mind, I will address the point in a minute.

It is unacceptable that total greenhouse gas emissions from Ireland, with a population of 4.5 million, are greater than those of 400 million of the poorest people on the planet, and policies of the Minister and others have contributed to that. John Sweeney, professor of geography at NUI Maynooth, has pointed out the hypocrisy of Ireland's approach on this, stating in a letter to The Irish Times: "[W]e look to China to reduce its emissions while feeding our demand for manufactured goods, but facilitate Irish agriculture via Harvest 2020 to increase its emissions in order to supply powdered milk to meet the demand from middle-class Chinese consumers." We have to stop dancing around this issue. If we are to have any hope of doing our bit to avert climate catastrophe and if we are really interested in food security, we have to radically restructure how we do farming here, and the sooner we do so the better.

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