Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Cathal Crowe. The best environmentalists are not to be found behind a computer or in a lecture hall. One will find them on the small farms in County Longford and other rural counties. There is probably no body of people better placed to know that we need to transition towards a climate-resilient, biodiversity-rich, environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral economy.

It is very important that we debunk the many myths that have grown up around this Bill. There are no plans, covert or otherwise, to reduce the national herd by 50%. That is scaremongering and it is deeply unfair to the farming community. There is no mention in the legislation or the programme for Government of a 50% reduction. It simply will not happen. It is also scaremongering to say that heavy-track machinery and diggers will have to be powered by electricity. Similarly, it is unfair to say that we plan to tax airlines out of the sky and cripple our tourism sector. Nor is there any intention to stop people cutting or burning their turf. That is another myth and further scaremongering.

Just transition and the quest for decarbonisation have been fast-tracked in the midlands. Bord na Móna is to cease its traditional operations and that will have a devastating effect on my region. I agree that there are crazy inconsistencies in what is proposed. We are planning to cease the production of peat briquettes, and it seems there is an unfathomable supply issue at Bord na Móna in terms of its briquettes, while, at the same time, we are importing much inferior products from abroad.

It is crazy, too, that we still do not know when our commercial peat harvesters will be able to work this season, yet, at the same time, we are importing peat from abroad. Commercial peat production for the horticultural sector is an important industry for counties Longford and Westmeath. The sector made a compelling submission to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine yet it seems we are no closer to seeing if harvesting can commence this season.

It is crazy too that there is a two-year wait on grant aid to retrofit a home. There are many anomalies and issues that have to be addressed but it is also critical that those issues are not lost in the hysteria of the hour.

The findings of the Citizens' Assembly have brought us to where we are and fed into the previous Government's climate action plan in 2019. In turn, that Government committed to today's Bill and to our five-year carbon budgets and sectoral targets. It also set out plans for an independent climate action council that will recommend carbon budgets and evaluate policy on an annual basis. The climate action plan is open for public consultation until 18 May and will be published in the summer.

It is true this climate Bill will cause farmers to focus on smart farming methods. There needs to be supports and incentives to help them. The key policy instrument in implementing and enabling agriculture to reach climate neutrality by 2050 is set out in the Ag Climatise roadmap launched at the end of last year. It includes 29 specific actions that were primarily based on the Teagasc marginal abatement cost curves. We are on a difficult journey towards a climate -neutral economy. It will not be without challenges. As legislators, we have an onus and responsibility on us to legislate not only for today but for tomorrow as well. The reality is that those in Ireland in 2050 will not thank us or remember us kindly if we do not vigorously pursue this Bill.

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