Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to discuss sectoral issues. I know the Minister is not the line Minister responsible for agriculture but he will have a view on agricultural emissions. The Labour Party espouses a position whereby the Government needs to consult the stakeholders in agriculture to talk about agricultural emissions. Everyone recognises that there has to be a reduction in agricultural emissions but how we get there remains to be seen. I am hopeful that the State is moving beyond thinking and into real policy interventions. We will all be aware of the good research conducted by Teagasc on how to reduce the emissions. I am keen to know, if agriculture is seen as an emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, where the thinking is at present in respect of how the agriculture sector will move forward in playing its part in reducing those emissions. We always defer to the academic research when it suits us. Anyway, the Minister will be aware of a recent study carried out by UCC through the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, MaREI, which is a renewable energy research entity. The centre referred to how drastic reductions would need to be made. In one instance a reduction in the national herd was cited if we are to meet the 7% target. I do not believe we should get bogged down in over-simplifying our discussions around what the reduction looks like in terms of a requirement to reduce the national herd to reach output of X.

This is why we need to have some sort of stakeholder process. There needs to be a just transition for agriculture so that if we are to move to reduce emissions properly, we include the farming and agricultural community as part of that. If it is the case that the next Government seeks to set a target of 7%, there will be a lot of worried people in rural Ireland. If one of the policy outputs as a result of a new programme for Government is a drastic reduction in the national herd, that would have a massive impact in a very short space of time on rural communities. People need to transition. New schemes need to be devised and new financing options made available for people living in rural Ireland who would displace one form of activity for another, recognising their role as guardians within the rural economy. I hope that we do not use very sharp implements that could have unintended consequences for citizens who live in the rural economy.

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