Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy used the word “force”. Farmers have been attached to the land for a very long time in this country. We have to engage with all involved on the land, including our farming community, and food security is important. We have to balance all of that. We need a greater variety of production and we are, through the carbon tax revenues, encouraging environmentally friendly farming, multi-species swards, and greater technologies to reduce the impacts on the environment. Not least this year, there has been a pronounced reduction in fertiliser use, brought on by the war on Ukraine, but it is nonetheless having some beneficial impacts in respect of the environment.

Deputy Bríd Smith talked about a nature-depleted planet which I do not disagree with. We have to focus more strongly on the quality of our rivers, the marine, our estuaries and ocean waters. Again, Food Vision 2030 is endeavouring to balance food production with-----

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