Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 156: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she has had discussions with her EU colleagues in the matter of food security within the European Union with particular reference to the implications of sourcing such food outside the Union and achieving climate change targets; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7351/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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As I pointed out to my EU colleagues as recently as January, at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting, and in bilateral discussions that I and my officials have had with other Member States, there is increasing awareness that food security cannot be taken for granted in a world where demand is rising rapidly and expected to double by 2050. In recent years there have been increased demands on the agricultural sector to examine the growing pressure between food, feed and fuel in terms of production. As energy production uses crops once destined for human consumption, and with the requirements for biomass and oilseed crops, the economics of agriculture enterprises are constantly changing. Ireland has an important role in meeting the EUs needs for food produced in a sustainable manner.

In global terms the objective must be that all production from agricultural sources be sustainable, be it food or fuel production, and in this regard the EU is committed to working towards an international agreement which would require all countries to limit greenhouse gas emissions in order to address the challenge of climate change.