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

It is not saying "No" to someone in rural Ireland about what should be in rural Ireland. Those in rural Ireland will probably the first to lead on the benefit of change because they will be the custodians of the land. They will be the best suited for electric vehicles because they will be able to charge their cars much more easily than someone in a terraced house on a street or in an apartment. The real industrial revolution is how we manage the distribution grid as well as the transmission grid. To my mind, stopping the sprawl and bringing back the community with buildings close together is absolutely what we need to do.

Agriculture accounts for 35% of our emissions and it will be one of the hardest to change because it takes time. There is every gain to be made from this. The other day I was reading Tom Arnold's food strategy paper and I was thinking the very simple thought, and riddle me this, that since 2008 our exports of agricultural produce went from €8 billion to €14 billion in 2018, which is huge and it is projected to keep going, but our farm incomes for cattle and sheep farmers stayed exactly the same. There was not a blip upwards in the price. Dairy got a slight increase but none of that increase in value went to the farmer. We are allies and we will work together with the farming community to try to change this in every way we can, starting by paying for the protection and restoration of nature. Farmers themselves have their minds and hearts absolutely focused. They have the highest regard for their animals, their land, their farms and their parishes. If we can get the right incentives and mechanisms to pay them for storing carbon, restoring biodiversity and improving water quality-----

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