Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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269. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the stakeholders he met to discuss the implementation of Ag-Climatise; when will the stakeholder group be established; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28943/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The AgClimatise roadmap was published in December 2020, setting out a series of 29 actions that will deliver a 10%-15% emissions reduction over the decade. Significant progress has been made by officials in identifying the key areas which will drive inventory change over the years ahead. AgClimatise actions have been referenced in all engagement with stakeholders and with industry over recent months.

This is to ensure that there is a broad understanding of the direction of travel identified including by way of example with the fertiliser industry and co-ops etc regarding the move towards protected urea. Significant engagements have also taken place with stakeholders on the animal breeding side and also the tillage sector to increase the production of home grown proteins.

An updated AgClimatise roadmap will be needed to reflect the increased ambition of the new Climate Action Plan. As a consequence, officials and I are fully engaged in the process of setting out what increased ambition in the agriculture sector could look like. It is only at this point, when new targets have been fully agreed, will the focus once again turn to the implementation of the actions.

As you can appreciate, the sector needs full clarity on what is being asked of them before any implementation plan can be fully agreed.