Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Climate Change Advisory Council has stated in its report that the national mitigation plan should provide a roadmap to achieve the national 2050 mitigation objective, which, for agriculture, is an approach to carbon neutrality in the agriculture and land-use sector, including forestry, which does not compromise capacity for sustainable food production.  I am disappointed that the Deputy would rail against that specific provision. If there is a growing global population, those people have to be fed, so one does not dismantle food production systems on the altar of carbon efficiency, although people must be fed in the most carbon efficient manner.

My Department has been actively involved in the development of the national mitigation plan, which is being led by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment.  The agriculture and forestry sectoral contribution to the plan, outlining the mitigation actions we are taking in the sector, has been submitted as part of that process.

Irish agricultural production has been independently and internationally recognised as one of the most climate and resource-efficient agrifood production systems in the world.  That is not self-praise. The European Commission's Joint Research Centre report of 2010, Evaluation of the livestock sector’s contribution to the EU greenhouse gas emissions, recognised that Ireland, with Austria, has the lowest cow milk emissions as well as the lowest emissions per kilo of pork. However, there is no room for complacency and we will continue to work with all stakeholders to find even greater efficiencies and reduce emissions further. This will not be an easy task, particularly in light of the limited cost-effective mitigation options available in agriculture. However, we continue to make efforts, and polices such as Food Wise 2025 provide a framework for the sector to engage with the national mitigation plan and for the development of a common vision of transition to a low carbon future.

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