Results 3,021-3,040 of 3,336 for speaker:Kate O'Connell

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Kate O'Connell: I wish to return in my final question to Bord Bia's role. It is a big issue for me at the moment. I cannot understand why we are not marketing our product better. The Bord Bia quality assurance brand is brilliant. People recognise it and use it. Is there any move towards a traffic light system to show how far a product on the shelf has travelled? It should be very clear to the consumer...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Kate O'Connell: I am not suggesting barriers to trade. I am talking about something that is very clear to shoppers, like the Bord Bia quality assurance system. It would make clear that although there is a narrative saying it is better to use certain foods - I keep picking on soy because it is the handiest example - this is not factually correct. This is not about trying to skew information. It is just...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Kate O'Connell: And myths.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Kate O'Connell: Will the Department provide us with a note on that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Chapter 10 - Forestry Grants (24 Oct 2019)

Kate O'Connell: I get concerned when there is a global movement about something. At the end of the day, we all need to eat. Some people will see that as a market and without any regard for science or evidence will claim that certain products are better because it is a good story.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: I thank the witnesses for coming at this late hour. I will follow on from Deputy Cullinane said. It was stated the ETS was being managed. Is it being managed at a European level? Is that what Mr. Brady meant? I am going backwards from where I had intended to start. The big polluters are expected to be managed under the ETS, while everyone else will be subject to a separate metric....

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: I know that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: I understand that. We had the rural environmental protection scheme and now have the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: No, they are not. Deputy Aylward is probably far more knowledgeable in this area than I am, but it is my understanding the REPS which became the GLAS was a rural environmental scheme which had nothing to do with carbon emissions. It involved maintaining hedgerows, wildlife and so on. If money is being given to farmers to benefit from the carbon trapping potential of trees, why is it not...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: I know that. I am talking specifically about carbon. Farmers will receive credits to encourage them to plant trees. It is a carbon credit. Why are they not receiving them for grassland and hedgerows? It is the same trick, albeit with different levels or quantities of carbon. I cannot see why the scheme only applies to one species.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: Farmers are not-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: There are no credits for grassland or hedgerows.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: Which are trapping carbon.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: They are potentially trapping carbon at a greater rate than particular species of large trees, for which carbon credits are granted. I wonder about this. I have no vested interest, but I become really concerned when I see such differences. Who is gaining? I am not suggesting anyone here is, but why are farmers being encouraged to plant a particular type of tree when so many metres of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: This decision was made on the basis of who was the more powerful.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: It is getting interesting now. I will move on to methane, an issue that bugs me. I am not sure if any of the witnesses are familiar with organic chemistry. The documents indicate that 72% of our emissions are non-ETS and one third are agriculture. Is that just the production of food? Does that include fumes from tractor or does it relate only to livestock?

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: Fumes from a tractor are a certain type of emission. Cattle produce methane which breaks down. Methane is given a global warming potential of 25 versus carbon. I assume all the witnesses are familiar with that. It means methane is 25 times worse than carbon. I hope the witnesses, as statisticians, will get this. Methane breaks down after 12 years but has a 25 times greater warming...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: That is what I was saying.

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: Yes, but the weighting of the agriculture sector is my concern. I am a representative of people in Ireland. I note from the document that 28% of our emissions are tradeable, while 72% are not. We will be disproportionately affected because we have accepted this variable according to which methane is 25 times more warming than carbon. Methane in its non-broken down form is 25 times more...

Public Accounts Committee: 2018 Annual Report of the Accounts of the Public Services
Chapter 9 - Greenhouse Gas-Related Financial Transactions: Discussion (5 Nov 2019)

Kate O'Connell: I understand that. We produce so much food, yet the emissions trading only applies to slightly more than one quarter of our emissions. I would prefer to have a dinner in front of me than have the lights on. I prefer to have a plate of good food than to have the television on. I am not sure whether we can sell all of this to ordinary people. I think it is deeply flawed. It is...