Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will vote against this Bill. According to it, there is increasing awareness of the need to make informed consumer choices based on the environmental impact of goods in light of their carbon footprint. While we all want to be aware of our own carbon footprint, carbon footprint labelling is not easy or feasible for many businesses. There are a range of issues attached to carbon labelling, which raise a highly complex set of interlocking problems. This policy has the potential to put hundreds of small food and artisan producers in Ireland out of business due to red tape compliance and transaction costs. In support and protection of so many of these small businesses in west Cork, I will not support the Bill.

On a practical level, most farmers, food processors, hauliers and shop owners have never considered the carbon content of their work. A farmer may know how much fertiliser is being used, but have only rudimentary energy accounts, often in money rather than energy units, or detailed measurements. It is likely that large-scale and multinational manufacturers will be better informed but, even so, a requirement to provide carbon statistics would create a major revolution. I could support carbon labelling of imported goods, which might already be manufactured in this country. Where is the carbon labelling on the peat being imported from Latvia, which we are doing instead of using peat produced in Ireland? What is the carbon footprint of importing Colombian briquettes? Are there any concerns in that regard?

In regard to COP 26 owing to the stance taken by India, China, Russia and Australia, it was all over before it even started. However, a good number of people got a holiday out of it. The American President arrived in one aeroplane, followed by a second plane carrying a number of fuel guzzling SUVs. Where was the carbon footprint there? Did anyone care? They did not. It was all about the lovely talks, which some people slept through because they had no intention of changing.

This Bill presents an impossible situation for small businesses. I will not support it.

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