Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this annual debate on climate action. Farmers need a long-term strategy for Irish agriculture. Many farmers are worried that the next Government will continue to demonstrate a complete lack of vision when it comes to the future of the family farm. Farmers want to see that there is a long-term future for them that is sustainable and compatible with climate action. Unfortunately, what we have seen from successive Governments is a lack of clarity and ambition when it comes to agriculture and climate action.

There is a need for big ideas and large projects that provide farmers with positive alternatives to which they can transition. For instance, where is the Government strategy to develop biomass and biogas production, two sources of renewable energy that would provide farmers with new income streams? Despite our large agricultural sector, we are miles behind countries such as Germany and other EU states when it comes to the production of renewables such as biogas and biomass.

An answer to a parliamentary question in the past two weeks showed that €861 million in carbon tax was collected in the past two years. The midlands, and farmers, must get their fair share of that. How much of that money was spent on replacement jobs, diversification for farmers and Bord na Móna workers? I refer to measures that would allow farmers in the midlands, for example, to diversify and transition to growing renewable energy crops such as biomass? The three midlands power stations could be used for biogas energy production. Those plants could create an income for farmers, energy for the country and, importantly, jobs for the region. Surplus heat can be used for horticulture, which Bord na Móna has started to look at. Despite all that, there is still a concerted effort to decommission two of those three power plants.

Where is the Government strategy to develop long-term on-farm afforestation? Currently, large corporations are coming into rural areas, buying up farms and planting spruce. That is replacement farming. That is not agroforestry; it is replacement agriculture. We need a long-term strategy that gives local farmers the opportunity to plant trees as part of on-farm forestry. That will give them new income and would also enhance biodiversity and improve carbon sequestration.

Those are just two of the positive ideas on which farmers can and want to contribute to climate action but, long term, there is no major Government planning. Instead, we have seen a great deal of focus on carbon tax and reducing the national herd, two policies that alone will not solve the climate crisis until affordable alternatives are available. We should reward farmers for protecting hedgerows and other sources of carbon sequestration. The issue at the moment is that farmers are being financially incentivised under the current CAP to cut back on hedgerows. That has to change under the new CAP.

The Minister mentioned TAMS. The scheme had a pilot renewable energy aspect, which was welcome. He has seen for himself the potential in that. We need that reopened and expanded. We also need the Bill I introduced in 2019, the Solar Panel (Climate Action) Bill, progressed through the Dáil to make it easier for farmers and small businesses to put solar panels on the roofs of buildings from which to generate electricity.

Instead of supporting negative measures such as increasing the current carbon tax, Sinn Féin wants to see a continued campaign to work for positive alternatives such as renewable energy and improvement of on-farm forestry, which will give farmers a real opportunity to diversify and create new sources of income.

See this speech in context