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

Climate change is an issue we are taking seriously. In fact, in the first contribution of the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, in the House, he made the point that we will have a full Cabinet meeting to discuss climate. It is a very serious issue and it is one we are taking seriously.

The plan was submitted to Government for approval on 9 June. My Department is a co-ordinating Department. I need to get other Ministers on board as well. It was right and proper that I would circulate the plan to them and give them an opportunity to read it, which they did. In fact, I spoke with a colleague afterwards and I probably should not say it but we had a very constructive discussion at the Cabinet today on the issue. I look forward to the further discussion and debate that will take place in the coming weeks. It was the right thing to do to give that time to colleagues to digest the information on the national mitigation plan as we had a very good discussion at the time.

We are being criticised about not doing enough about agriculture. However, it is important to acknowledge when we do things right. An article in last week's Irish Farmers Journal showed that through the beef data and genomics scheme, we have genotyped 31% of our national beef herd. Nowhere in the world has come anywhere near doing that. We are the global leaders in this area. Many of the colleagues I meet when I travel abroad also have responsibility for agriculture and they ask me about the beef data genomics scheme because it is one of the most innovative measures taken in the agriculture sector anywhere in the world. That, and the smart farming initiative operated in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency are two innovative measures that are driving the change forward as well.

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