Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minster, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is very welcome to the House this afternoon. I thank Senator Chambers for sharing time.

There is no doubt but that the Bill has the potential to tackle climate change, which is one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime. This is a global crisis that I believe needs a global response if we are to save our climate. Climate policy on climate change needs to be foreign policy. I came across some quite startling statistics recently that show China's daily emissions are equivalent to a full year of emissions by Ireland, and that the US, China and the EU make up 55% of the world's emissions. This clearly shows that unless we get a global response to this emergency we will be, unfortunately, in trouble.

Change is never easy but we must listen and be sensitive. The burden needs to be fair across all sectors, be they urban or rural. Farmers have legitimate concerns. Farmers have always responded and have always done their bit. They will always do what needs to be done. It is not that long ago, and I remember it well, when good farming practice was to remove hedgerows, to drain wetlands, and to get rid of weeds from the land. Now we want to preserve and recreate hedgerows, we want to save wetlands, and we want to protect wildflowers, and rightly so. This indicates how policy has changed in a short period of time. Farmers will always do their bit, but if this legislation is going to be successful we need the farming community 100% behind it. To do that, the farmers need the financial supports, and without them we are going nowhere.