Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The issue of the incoming US President, Donald Trump, was on everybody's lips in Marrakesh. I discussed it with American representatives - I discussed it with the head of the US EPA, who is effectively the Minister and the high representative from the United States. The Secretary of State, John Kerry, was also there, but I did not get the opportunity to speak to him. I spoke to representatives of the European Commission about it. I know the European Commission is actively engaged on the issue and is providing the type of leadership necessary particularly now that it is not coming from the US.

It is a little disingenuous - I do not mean of Deputy Paul Murphy - to say all of the debate has been focused on agriculture; it should also be focused on transport and my Department must take some of the responsibility also. In fairness, the agricultural and farming community saw the devastation caused by flooding this time last year. It appreciates that things need to change and is making progress in that regard, but progress will be slow. The one word of caution I would sound is that many countries in the developing world are looking very closely at what is happening in agriculture in Ireland and New Zealand, in particular, because they have a waiver in agriculture until post-2030. If we get it wrong in agriculture, they will not sign up to the 2040 targets. It is imperative that we bring as many people and countries as possible with us. We must provide leadership; show that we can be responsible in agriculture and that we can reduce emissions, as well as improve production. There is an opportunity to provide leadership for the world. Ireland's representatives had a multilateral meeting with representatives of Uruguay, Argentina and New Zealand to see how we could share our technology and research to provide the type of leadership needed in this area.

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