Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We will not get a baseline with 20 sites. To get the ball rolling, we need to support a comprehensive carbon soil analysis programme throughout this country. We need to roll out the airborne light detection and radar surveys on our land. Instead of expanding the airborne surveys, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications has suspended its existing programme, but should we be surprised? The Government has net deforestation by felling more trees than it is planting. Farmers and homeowners have not been paid since last June for renewable electricity they are putting onto the grid, even though that right was forced on Ireland. I signed up to it in 2018, despite strong opposition at the time, and people are still not being paid today. Is it any wonder the Government is demanding farmers cut emissions by one third more over the next eight years, as it continues to sit on its hands and talk about pilots?

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