Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is a lot in what the Minister has said, but the nub of the issue, or the question, is that we now face, as the Minister said, huge challenges in achieving the targets we have set out in the climate action Bill. Farmers want to be part of it. We have a huge amount of work to be done. We have a huge amount of research to be done as to how we will reach our targets. Underlining all that is the fact that there is a serious need to set out a separate, ring-fenced budget to make sure the farming communities are supported in achieving what we want to achieve nationally for climate action. I urge the Minister to make sure further funding is made available. While we are putting in place all these action plans and while a huge amount of paperwork is being thrown around the place, the fear is that, at the end of the day, the farmer will have to pay for a lot of it.

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