Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will not read the Minister poetry, although I am being encouraged to do so. In all seriousness, when we enacted the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015, we set up the Climate Change Advisory Council. Its recent report clearly shows why it was set up, which was to give an early warning that we would not hit targets. It was built and designed on the model of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council. I brought that up on Committee Stage. During the period of recession and economic crisis, the council reported annually and its advice was taken by Government on many occasions. We are facing a similar crisis in respect of climate change to that which we went through over the last eight years in respect of the extremely severe recession. We have to give it the same response, which is an whole-of-Government response. I know this issue is close to the Minister's heart. At this stage we have to start defining exactly how we are going to deal with the crisis the country is facing and with the possible fines of somewhere between €400 million and €600 million we will be facing after 2020.

The Climate Change Advisory Council's report refers to the approximately €100 million in subvention being given to turf-fired power stations in the midlands. We have to examine whether that is the best way to invest in the midlands. We do not want to make the midlands a rust belt but we have to examine whether a subvention of €100 million is the best way to invest in the region. Perhaps we should invest in people, in training and in alternative industries in which there could be a future for the communities in the midlands.;

I have a couple of questions for the Minister. When will see a definition of the term "carbon-neutral" in respect of agriculture? It is a phrase which is thrown out regularly but nobody quite understands it. We need to be clear on what the Minister's or the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's definition is. We also talk about our investment in forestry and where we want to go with it. We have a clear target to have 15,000 ha of forest cover by 2050. I would like to see annual targets towards achieving that. If we do not have an annual target, we will find ourselves slipping very quickly.

We often hear that Ireland is the best place for milk, beef and everything else. We often hear that Ireland is the best place to feed the world. Ireland is never going to feed the world. Let us kill off that idea. In many markets, our agricultural produce is targeted at the top of the market in order to get the best return. We are selling our beef as the best in the world rather than as the cheapest. As a small producer, that is exactly where we should be focusing our efforts.

I have one real concern. I know that many people will think this comparison is a little mad, but tobacco producers constantly say they need help to continue growing and producing tobacco. If one does a Google search on that issue, in the United States, and particularly the south, the tobacco producers fight strongly to be able to continue growing tobacco plants for the tobacco industry. Growth in the tobacco industry is mainly in Third-World countries, particularly those in Asia, and in India and China. It is a little bit like that with formula milk. Ireland is now one of the largest producers of formula milk in the world. It is all for export, mostly to China and other Asian countries. We know that the best milk for a baby is mother's milk, yet we have major international foundations marketing formula milk in the Third World and in other countries where people can least afford to change from breast milk to formula milk. We feel that is okay. There will always be a role for formula milk. People do make that choice. However, we need to be a little concerned at the way formula milk is being marketed outside of Ireland. We constantly tell mothers that breast is best but, on the other hand, we say that it might not be if it means we can export formula milk to Third-World countries and encourage the use of scarce resources to buy it when people could be buying much more nourishing food for their families.