Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this very important issue again. She talked about the food supply chain and how farmers are concerned. We need to keep the lines of communication from all various Departments open. Our climate is changing and these changes are affecting our agricultural sector. The sector is committed to sustainable development and it fully recognises that to be sustainable, it must be climate-resilient. We must continue to adapt and plan. The Department is working with all the various stakeholders in these sectoral policies.

The Senator is right that in Food Vision 2030, the new forest strategy will also consider the important role forests play in climate change mitigation and adaption. There are many synergies between adaptation and mitigation actions, which is particularly true for the agricultural sector. Climate action is a two-sided coin, with mitigation on one side and adaptation on the other. To be resilient, both need to be integrated.

The Senator made a very important point that we probably need a go-to person. Teagasc and all the various organisations are working extremely hard, but perhaps a one-stop shop where one can deal with all these issues would be good. I thank the Senator again for raising this.