Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I also thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Discussions are ongoing at governmental level across all sectors and range over the points in respect of emissions targets. The Deputy raised a valid point, which is that farmers and our farming sector have been on a journey of transition for some time. We continue to produce our food more efficiently and with a better carbon profile. That is our ambition and farmers are adopting new measures through a range of approaches. We want to continue doing that into the future so that we future-proof our sector in line with our Food Vision 2030 strategy in order that we increase the value of the produce in the markets that our farmers sell into. Those markets all have a higher ambition and future-proofing of the sector is the right thing for us to do. We will continue to produce food into the future with a better emissions profile and we intend to continue to work to support the sector to do that.

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