Mr. Ciarán Cuffe:

I am on thin ice talking about farming as a Dublin MEP but my first job was snagging fodder beet on John Leeson's farm in south Dublin so I have had a little bit of involvement in that area. A third of the European Union budget goes to farmers but it has to go to the right farmers. We need leadership. I see that leadership from Macra na Feirme. We need that leadership from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and from Teagasc, particularly in regard to climate action. Today at COP26 it is all about the methane strategy. Much of that methane comes from farm animals. We need more science coming from Teagasc and more understanding of the radical changes needed in farming.

To go back briefly to Senator Fitzpatrick's question and Mr. Andrew's response, we need a Dublin office in Brussels. Vienna has an extraordinary office there. It is a bigger city, but a presence is needed. Dublin also needs a mayor. The permanent government runs Dublin and by that I mean the four chief executives, the four county managers. I have rows all the time with those people. At a personal level, I get on with them but we need a political voice, and a Dublin voice. Ireland and the cities in Ireland are outliers compared to elsewhere in Europe. If I can make one plea today, particularly to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, it is to support the proposals for mayors for Limerick, Dublin, Waterford and Cork. That is the only way cities will get the voice they need. Yesterday I sat down with a senior European Commission official to talk about carbon neutral cities. He said he wants to get Dublin on board but there is nobody he can talk to and convince of this. That is why we need somebody. Henry Kissinger who asked, "Who do I call if I want to speak to Europe?” but who do you talk to when you talk to Dublin? There are four local authorities and four mayors. In the space of five years, there will be 20 mayors for Dublin. That is not the way to run a city region. We need a stronger voice. I am sorry for taking up the time on that.

On the sustainable development goals, tomorrow COP26 will devote one day to cities and regions because a huge amount of climate action comes from cities and we need a voice there.