Dan Boyle (Green Party)

We need the legislation to enshrine in law the principle of a targeted approach to this issue given our experience of how we dealt with our international commitments in the past, how we made an utter failure of our Kyoto commitments, how we must meet the process that now exists and how we anticipate moving in the future.

What I find particularly disappointing is the economic argument being raised. There is nothing in this legislation that achieves anything the Irish Farmers' Association, in particular, is saying about agriculture. Some of the commentators who talk about a reduction of 40% of the national herd are using absurd arguments about what the target is and how one can translate that into a particular sector.