Results 5,741-5,760 of 11,359 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: I thank our guests from the INHFA and Macra na Feirme for their engagement on this issue. Both organisations have a long track record of seeking UTP enforcement and a body that can ensure fairness within the market chain for fresh food product. Macra has long called for a national food ombudsman. The INHFA might have argued that a regulator is necessary. We are getting close to the end of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: On the make-up of the board, I want to ask both organisations if they have a view as to what changes should be made to it as currently proposed. There has been a great deal of discussion in that regard. We discussed the so-called grey list of frowned-upon activities, as opposed to the black of list of prohibited activities, with witnesses in our earlier session. The IFA representative was...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: General Scheme of the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed) (13 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: I have no more questions. I again thank both organisations. As part of the committee's engagement, the input from the farm organisations has been incredibly helpful. In my time on this committee and at all the hearings we have had, we have not had a more informed contribution than the submission, opening statement and responses we have received from Macra. I sincerely hope those, along...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Calculation of Methane Emissions: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: I thank all our guests for being here. As I am sure they are aware, these areas can be incredibly complex. They become more complex when we get evidence that suggests that the accounting and calculation model we are basing all of these conversations on may actually be flawed. I have a question for Professor Allen with regard to the different types of methane. As I understand from the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Calculation of Methane Emissions: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: I will stop Professor Allen there on the basis of time. He has spoken about the need to achieve geological net zero. I do not know if this is his area of expertise but I wonder if he could speak to what those mining operations that are emitting this methane are actually used for? In many instances we would not have products like this smartphone and other technologies were it not for those...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Calculation of Methane Emissions: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: I think it is because part of the problem we have had in this country is that when it comes to imposing taxes on ordinary consumers or penalising ordinary workers or farmers there is no problem and we can move at the speed of light. When it comes to actually addressing data centres, private jet travel or areas that are actually the real causes of pollution it is very much a case of see no...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Calculation of Methane Emissions: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Will Professor Allen comment on the farm-by-farm assessment and whether we should have a route enabled for that? Ms Webster talked about a number of figures being out. She made reference to dairy emissions being overestimated by 18%. Does Professor Allen share the view that the figures we are working on could be as inaccurate as that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Calculation of Methane Emissions: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: I get that. I have a brief question for Professor Allen. Am I correct in saying that for his system of accounting to be taken on board, we would need to get international agreement, which would essentially mean a new Paris accord?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Calculation of Methane Emissions: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Calculation of Methane Emissions: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Does Professor Allen not see a potential issue arising if different states are reporting their emissions in different ways?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Just for some background information, I have a quick question for Professor Thorne. He mentioned the increased prevalence of methane in the atmosphere and said that over the past 700 years it has increased to the tune 1,000 parts per billion.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Of that 1,000 parts per billion, does he have a breakdown of where that methane emerged in terms of extraction mining, ruminants, rice fields, waste and the different areas from which he said it can emerge?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: I will put a few questions together. I am trying to get a sense of all this and where the witnesses are coming from, particularly Professor McMullin's comments about CO2and the difficulties in sequestering or abstracting that from the atmosphere. Am I correct in deducing that, essentially, the premise is that farming per semay not have been the cause of the problem but is very much an...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Over the weekend, journalists were critiquing Opposition Deputies because some of us would not specify a specific percentage figure for the sectoral ceiling for agriculture. I hope those journalists are watching today and understand that the information Mr. Kierans has been talking about, which is being used by his Department, has not been made available. We have sought copies of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: It is an easy one. There is a range of 22% to 30% for the sectoral ceiling for agriculture. What measures would be required for each point along that scale?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Would it not be fair to say that measures taken on afforestation and anaerobic digestion should be assigned, in terms of credits, to LULUCF as opposed to agriculture? They are the only two specific areas raised and are not actually related to agricultural emissions.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: That makes no sense whatsoever. Does the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine consider a scenario where it would be appropriate or necessary for the State to apply linear cuts in respect of a particular type of agriculture, for example to state across the board that every farm or every farm within a region would be required to reduce its production by a certain number of percentage...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Moving on to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine officials, the one point that is indisputable is that every farm is unique, but does the Department accept we are at a disadvantage in that we do not have any mechanism to assess on a farm-by-farm basis the sequestration, storage and emissions that are currently happening on each unique farm?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: How will that be measured?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Sectoral Emissions Ceilings: Discussion (20 Jul 2022)

Matt Carthy: Are there no measures in place and no proposals?