Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Is the Government willing to change Irish agriculture and food policy based on the latest report today from the The EAT-Lancet Commission which sets out so clearly the science on the need for the whole world to change in order that we can feed 12 billion people, improve our health and ensure we stay within the planetary limits we risk tripping over. I grew up with the food pyramid and we have known for years that we must reduce the amount of beef and dairy we eat but today I see a food pie that is very clear. Half of our food is coming from vegetable and fruit and a huge amount of plant-based protein. I am glad it is still saying that we must eat dairy, beef and other food products because I eat meat too. However, I know for my health and for ethical reasons we need to change. It is not right for Ireland to follow a completely alternative policy to the one that is set out here. Our Food Wise 2025 plan is saying there will be great increase in meat consumption around the world and that we should get in there and massively expand our beef, dairy, pork and chicken industries to benefit from this and that we should be out there in a world where the growth in meat consumption will be an opportunity for us but the science is clearly saying the exact opposite. That market is going to dramatically shrink and it has to.

We need to change food policy. We had Macra na Feirme in here yesterday and we were in agreement with it that for the future of Irish farming, we need to look at this obsession Fine Gael has in supporting industry and big business doing well out of this, and they are the only ones doing well out of this obsession with meat, dairy, poultry and pork expansion. It is not the Irish family farm that is doing well. Sticking to the current massive expansion in meat, beef and dairy provides the opportunity to start paying Irish farmers better and to give them a more secure income by diversifying away from big international beef and dairy markets which is where the Government is leading them.

More than anything else, is it not hypocrisy for the Taoiseach to say we are going to cut back our own meat consumption but, as a country, we are going to sell and expand as much as we can when everything we know now from science and health is that we all need to adjust our diet from which we will all benefit? Irish farming should and will benefit from that. Will the Government change Food Wise 2025 and recognise the reality?

The Government wrote yesterday to the climate committee saying that it wanted to be a champion and that we wanted to be central to the process of doing what was right. One cannot say that in a letter and then not recognise the need for us to change our entire food and farming system. Does the Tánaiste agree with the science? Does the Government agree with the way it says the world is going to go and will it change Government food policy on the basis of that?

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