Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The majority of people in this Chamber understand that we need to change the way we work and live to meet our climate change obligations. I say the majority because not all of us do. The majority of us do. I understand the Minister is meeting the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in the next couple of weeks to determine the percentage of emissions reductions targets. The scale is between 22% to 30% but has to be negotiated. Would it make more sense, before we decide on a specific target, to reach the afforestation targets that we set ourselves? The target is 8,000 ha per year. At present we are only delivering 2,500 ha. We should look at technological solutions such as aeration of slurry tank systems and so on before we set those targets.

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