Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to see the Minister back in the House. It was a good decision by the Leader and others to ensure that we get a good conversation with each Department. We all felt that the sitting in December was not very satisfactory in terms of looking at climate action in each area. It is good, therefore, that we will have separate discussions with the various Ministers.

I will pick up on some key areas. I read the Minister's speech and recognise some key areas and roadmaps, but in each of the ministerial statements on climate action, we need a sense of what happened last year and what is happening this year. I would like the Minister to speak more to 2019 in his concluding remarks. We have seen young people taking action by protesting outside Leinster House. There is frustration that while new targets are being set and there is a roadmap from 2021 onwards, we will hit perhaps 1% of our overall 2020 emissions targets. Could we identify what actions could be taken in 2019 and 2020 to increase that figure to 5%? That would be an ambitious target and would require action from every Department but that is the level of urgency involved. We may not have the luxury of planning roadmaps for the future. While these are important, we have an intense 12 years ahead.

I recognise the role of afforestation in carbon sequestration. However we have a dual crisis. There is the climate crisis and our failure to hit national, European and global targets on carbon reduction and, linked to that, there is an ecological crisis in biodiversity. Recent articles have pointed to a possible 40% loss in insect life which would have catastrophic consequences for agriculture and horticulture in particular. During our lengthy debates on the Heritage Bill, on which the Minister will be familiar with our concerns, we heard that it takes 20 visits from pollinators to make an apple take the correct shape and fully develop to the point where it can be sold in shops. Pollinators play this very active role, including in the health of crops. That is why bees are transported across America to deliver almond harvests and other crops. Our pollinators play a vital role in sustaining life but also in agriculture.

A greater focus on horticulture may be needed in the medium term. I would like the Minister to address that issue and the potential of horticulture to become a larger part of the national market. In many cases it would provide higher value products than, say, using fields to grow fodder. Many places have seen a switch towards higher value horticultural produce.It has local markets at a time when international markets are more unstable, and demand for it is increasing.

What are our plans to facilitate a transition to a greater focus on horticulture? Is that something we are considering or that we will support farmers to do? I acknowledge that it has been raised many times in the House but there may be a devastating impact on the agricultural sector in the aftermath of Brexit. We will have to draw on national and European resources to support that sector. Can we ensure that those moneys and what we ultimately draw down from Europe is not simply a matter of pressing pause on the industries as they are now but rather to support farmers in making a transition to crops and farming that is more sustainable in the long term?

The issue of afforestation is linked to that. I am sure the Minister will be aware that there have been many protests on the issue. Although we plant trees, we do not necessarily regenerate forests. If we move towards the point where trees, with their carbon sequestration, are simply a cash crop but do not build up the ecosystems, trees will not perform their double function to tackle our dual crisis. We must also use trees to address the need for better pollination and environments, and wildlife corridors for sustaining our ecology. Can we consider re-examining some of our forestry policy?

I welcome the woodland environmental fund, but how will we incentivise its use? Many who are passionate about nature and the environment are concerned about some of our forestry schemes, and that concern has been shared internationally. There is also concern as to how Ireland funds adaptation and mitigation measures in the global south. There are many local initiatives of rural communities around the world to build, support and sustain forests, for example, by building up manuka honey crops and examining how forests can be a rich environment with their own crops, but those kinds of projects are not often supported. Large, industrial-scale planting of cash-crop forests, on the other hand, will invariably receive the environmental and other funding. I would like the Minister to comment further on the issue.

I have spoken about the issue of transition. We need to consider our beef industry. It is a strong industry which I respect but we need to reconsider its scale and the balance in the industry to take account of horticulture. Given what we have heard about the imminent extinction of 40% of insects, I urge the Minister to engage with the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Madigan. A review of the Heritage Act, which is effectively a hedgerow-cutting Act, is due and we need to revisit that issue. As we deal with climate change, we will have to challenge a number of industries and one with which we might need to start is the hedge-cutting industry. It cannot be business as usual and we will have to make some difficult decisions, which will mean respecting people.

All these measures will feed into Ireland being able to make a much stronger case under the new CAP. The European Commission is not blind to decisions to allow hedgerows to be exempt in these areas. I hope that CAP will sustain rural communities in the future rather than simply the owners of large-scale farms. How can we integrate support for local communities?

Seaweed crops are probably not a matter for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and, therefore, I will leave it aside for now.