Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Members who contributed to this debate. Everyone is sincere about where we need to go on this. The most important point is that we have a capacity to bring people with us.

On Senator Kevin Humphreys's point about the farming organisations, I do not believe it is a case of facing down anybody. It is about recognising who has done what to date and what more we need to do. Facing down the agricultural community flies in the face of the fact that it is among the most carbon-efficient producer on the planet. This is not an idle boast. The EU’s Joint Research Centre acknowledged that Ireland is the most carbon-efficient producer of beef. I take Senator Grace O’Sullivan's point about ruminants. We can have a philosophical debate about all of that but we must acknowledge what has been done and is under way with initiatives such as the beef data genomics, which improved herd fertility, food conversion and so forth. We are committed to driving down further our carbon footprint in this regard.

On the dairy side, we are the most carbon-efficient producer of dairy products on the planet, alongside New Zealand. Why would one face down the farming organisations to tell them to dismantle this? What would happen if we dismantled it? It would facilitate imports with a far higher carbon footprint because one is not going to change immediately the dietary habits of people disposed towards beef or dairy product consumption.

As Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I acknowledge the farming community has led the way. Ill-informed people will point the finger claiming it contributes to 33% of our carbon footprint. While that is true, we have not had the history of coal and steel production like the UK or continental Europe. We are the most carbon-efficient producer of food. Why dismantle that and have it displaced by food produced with a far higher carbon footprint, as Senator Mulherin said, which steams into this country from far-flung corners of the world?We can do more, for example, to promote horticulture and my Department is incentivising that sector, but this is a complex, nuanced area. I do not believe this debate is advanced one iota by the pejorative proposal to face down the farming organisations. I suggest Senator Humphreys meet them and he would find a community whose members are as concerned as he is about this issue. They are concerned about the future of their children and grandchildren and the planet they will inherit. They are committed to addressing this issue and they have done a good deal in that respect but they acknowledge that the agricultural sector needs to do more.

I acknowledge Senator Paul Daly's bona fides and I equally acknowledge the points that have been made about his party's bona fides in the past. I do not want to go anywhere else with that. A good deal has been done. The Senator talked about ducking and diving but that does not advance this debate one iota.