Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to raise this very important matter, which is the balance between achieving our carbon reduction targets on one hand and retaining our agrifood production sector on the other. Both are equally important and need to be achieved, and both can be achieved provided we all go in the same direction and create opportunities to do what must be done in the shortest time possible.

I am strongly of the opinion that there is a need to provide renewable energy that is clean, affordable, available and that will continue to serve the community for many years to come. This is an innovative time, much like it was in the 1920s when the Shannon scheme was introduced, only now there are different demands. It is important we identify the ways to deal with the reduction in carbon that is necessary.

There is a variety of ways to deal with this. One is to say the answer is to bring the agricultural sector to a halt but that is not a real answer. It is anything but an answer and the entire project will fail if we go about it that way. However, if we encourage the agrifood sector to incentivise ways and means to provide for carbon reduction in houses, farms and throughout the country, we can have the best of both worlds. We can ensure an adequate food supply for the future and further the means of carbon sequestration through forestry and the use and growth of hedgerows. In that context, we should remember that no credit seems to be given at all for the existence of hedgerows and trees in the country, or at least to the extent that it should.

We also have much grassland that can be a means towards carbon reduction. On the other hand, it is of vital importance to note that the baseline for our carbon reduction targets was taken as a particular year. That does not necessarily address the issue because the agrifood sector here produces food for almost 50 million people. Ireland is unique in this respect internationally and it is because of the way the agrifood sector here is managed. This can continue and be improved. It can continue to ensure that we have a viable and sustainable agrifood sector well into the future. It must be remembered that when the economic crash came, this was the sector that stood up and delivered. When everybody thought that all was lost and we were going to starve, the agrifood sector rose to the challenge because it was sustainable, it was local, it was indigenous and it was capable of addressing the debt issues we had to address.

The sector is also very anxious to embrace good habits for carbon reduction. We need to engage with the agrifood sector to be able to talk with them to show them how they can improve their situation, improve carbon reduction and how they can set new targets. Every improvement is a step in the right direction. This must be done as a matter of course, but I have no doubt that the Minister of State is committed to this in any event. We need to reiterate this concept regularly and make sure that we do not fall victim to the international race.

See this speech in context