Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. Fianna Fáil has a strong record in introducing progressive measures to tackle climate change which is perhaps the single greatest threat to the future of our children and grandchildren. By contrast, the Government has repeatedly ducked and dived in tackling climate change. Its policies lack a strategic vision and have fundamentally failed to progress the decarbonisation of the economy.

We welcome the opportunity to discuss the 2016 annual national transition statement on climate action and low carbon development published last December and the initiatives being carried out by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in this area. The EU 2020 target for Ireland was to reduce emissions by 20%. The Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, has estimated that Ireland will reduce its non-emissions trading system, ETS, emissions by 6% to 11% from 2005 levels by 2020, or significantly below our reduction target of 20%.

Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions profile is unique within Europe in that it is heavily weighted towards agriculture owing to the lack of heavy industry within the overall economy. However, it is important to stress that since 1990 agricultural emissions in Ireland have reduced by 9.7%, while emissions in other areas such as transport have increased by over 120%. The inclusion of land use, land use change and forestry within the scope of the new EU climate change framework will be a welcome development and represent a sensible approach to broaden the tools available to Ireland to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through carbon sequestration.

In 2015 total national greenhouse gas emissions were estimated to be 3.7% higher than in 2014. Agriculture remains the single largest contributor to overall emissions, at 33% of the total. The transport and energy industries are the second and third largest contributors, at 19.8% and 19.7%, respectively. Agricultural emissions increased by 1.5% in 2015, most likely reflecting the expansion of the dairy herd in the post-quota era. However, this is not because agricultural output is highly polluting. In fact, Ireland is one of the most highly intensive, lowest carbon food producers in the world. The carbon footprint per kilogramme of output of Irish farms is one of the lowest in the world. According to the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, the Irish dairy sector is the most efficient in the European Union in terms of carbon dioxide per kilogram of milk. The director of agricultural policy at the World Bank has lauded the contribution Ireland is making to tackling climate change. I quote: "If every cow was as good as the top 10% of cows in Ireland, we would have one-third less methane emissions on this planet.”

Bord Bia argues that there could be significant economic gains from raising standards on less efficient farms through the use of more carbon efficient technology. According to it, a reduction of 10% in the beef industry's carbon footprint through the use of more efficient food production technologies could make it the most carbon efficient in Europe and generate additional on-farm income in the region of of €300 million per year, as well as improving our green image on global food markets.

I acknowledge the role of the farm schemes in promoting the reduction of greenhouse gases. The green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, promotes low-carbon agriculture, the delivery of targeted environmental advice and best practice at farm level.

The objective of the beef data and genomics programme, BDGP, is to lower the intensity of greenhouse gas emissions by improving the quality and efficiency of the national beef herd. The carbon navigator is a key component of the scheme. It delivers feedback and advice on practices that effectively reduce the carbon footprint of farm produce and improve the economic performance of a farm. It encourages the shift in slurry application from the summer to the spring, a practice which can help to significantly reduce emissions. Knowledge transfer is vitally important in this area for the transfer and exchange of information to farmers on a wide range of topics, including sustainability and husbandry practices which contribute to climate action, for example, animal health, breeding and nutrient management.

Organic farming naturally is a major contributor. It promotes organic agriculture as an alternative farming system, contributing to improved soil quality, the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.

The targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, provides for capital investment in a number of target areas to promote sustainability, for example, in low emissions slurry spreading equipment, farm nutrient storage and renewable energy efficiency.

While I acknowledge these schemes, we could achieve more. Fianna Fáil is supportive of environmentally sustainable farming. The model of Irish cattle production is among the most environmentally sustainable on the planet. Final negotiations on EU 2030 targets must underpin the need for food security and the central role of an exporting country such as Ireland which has an efficient food production sector. Irish and EU food security concerns must be put on an equal footing with climate change concerns. Among developed nations, Ireland is second only to New Zealand in having the highest proportion of total greenhouse emissions from agriculture, at 33%. This compares with an EU average of 10%. As stated previously, it must be recognised that this dominance is due to the central role of agriculture in the economy and the absence of high polluting heavy industry. There is a risk that by setting onerous and unrealistic targets for methane and ammonia - emitted mainly by the beef and dairy industries - as proposed by some commentators there could actually be an adverse effect by shifting food production to lower cost but far less carbon efficient countries.

It is essential that Ireland get a fair deal in the negotiations on the technical details associated with greenhouse gas reduction targets and their measurement. Ireland needs to push for land use, land use change and forestry to be recognised as providing a major contribution to greenhouse gas target measurement. We welcome the inclusion of this feature in the scope of the draft EU 2030 binding greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets published in July 2016. This feature can afford huge opportunities to Ireland to achieve win-win outcomes in meeting our reduction targets. For example, only 11% of our land is forested compared to 33% across the European Union. Afforestation has high potential to help us to meet our emissions targets. Even the forests planted since 1990 absorb a massive 18% of agriculture's annual greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the economic returns from forestry are strongly competitive compared to those from other land uses and could yield a high dividend in terms of regional development and employment. It is essential that as a country we live up to this agreement and meet our emissions reduction and renewable targets across all areas. We also need to do more to ensure Ireland meets its climate justice commitments, including making progressive contributions to the cost of adaptation, mitigation and emissions reduction measures in developing countries. It is unfortunate that the Government has been so slow in introducing innovative schemes to achieve our greenhouse gas reduction and climate justice targets. Although the latest emission reduction figures are encouraging for some sectors, they show that much more needs to be done. While progress has been made by some areas, especially electricity production and agriculture, to meet our 2020 emissions reduction targets, almost no progress has been made in other areas since 2011, notably home heating and transport. There is no policy in place for reducing home heating emissions, and despite paying lip service to renewable transport, the Government has effectively given up on meeting our targets by 2020. Fianna Fáil is fully committed to meeting our 2020 targets in these areas and has a detailed policy plan for achieving this.