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

I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this really important issue. He is dead right in that, as we face the challenge of combating the worst effects of climate change, we face competing demands. I am always struck by the UN sustainability goals, of which there are 17. One is about addressing climate change. The second one is about having zero hunger in the world by 2030. In the context of a growing global population, we need to produce more food to achieve that. Therefore, the question is one of how to meet the competing demands concerning land use and ensuring our food production systems produce fewer emissions while being able to produce more food to feed the growing world population. The answer is innovation. We have done this down through the years. We have more science, research and innovation in our food production systems, which are now so sophisticated, to ensure not only that we continue to produce food but also that we do so more sustainably.

That is at the heart of what we are doing with Irish farmers. We are supporting farmers to produce top-quality, safe, nutritious food more sustainably in the future. We are not stopping farmers from producing that food but making sure that when they do it, they do so with a lower emissions output and improved water quality trends and impact on biodiversity.

There will be opportunities for diversification for farmers in terms of using their farming enterprise to create alternative income from renewable energy. The role of producing food, be it cattle or sheep in their sheds, will continue to be the primary role of farmers but there is nothing to stop them making alternative income from solar panels on the roof of their sheds. We are looking to support this by removing the need for planning permission in that regard. If farmers make those changes, they will make them voluntarily because there is an economic return on them. What we are looking to do as a Department and Government is to make sure the supports are there for farmers to incentivise them to make that change while they continue to reduce the emissions profile from the top-quality food we produce in this country.

See this speech in context