Written answers

Thursday, 9 September 2021

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Common Agricultural Policy

Photo of Mary ButlerMary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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1606. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will address the concerns raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43196/21]

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The development of the CAP Strategic Plan is well under way. 

Most recently, a five-week public consultation on the draft interventions concluded on Friday 3rd September.

Over 1,000 submissions have been made during the public consultation process. The townhall webinars were also well attended with in excess of 300 attending on each of the three nights.  These submissions are under consideration and will be taken on board in the development of the plan. 

Discussions with key stakeholders will continue through bilateral engagements, and through the CAP Consultative Committee, where all key stakeholders are represented.  A statutory consultation on draft environmental report for the CAP Strategic Plan will be held in November with the final plan due for submission in December in advance of the 1st January 2022 deadline. 

The plan will then be subject to an approval process with the Commission over a six or eight month period.  All elements of the plan will be subject to review and scrutiny by the EU Commission in line with the relevant regulatory framework around the three general objectives of economic, environmental and social sustainability. The CAP Strategic Plan will commence on 1st January 2023.

As discussed during the public consultation process with respect to the Suckler Carbon Efficiency Scheme, the rationale for the proposed inclusion of the limit on herd expansion in participant herds in the context of this scheme is to ensure that participants do not increase their overall bovine animal emissions while participating in the voluntary environmental programme.

In relation to rewetting, the All-of-Government Climate Action Plan 2019 targets 40,000 hectares of reduced management intensity of grasslands on drained organic soils as part of Agriculture’s contribution to achieving national climate change targets. Informed by the Teagasc Marginal Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) this rewetting initiative is estimated to contribute 4.4 Mt CO2 eq cumulative abatement over the period 2021 to 2030.

Teagasc’s calculations use Tier 1 values from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. They include direct CO2 emissions, offsite CO2 emissions from Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) in drainage water, methane emissions from both soils and open drainage ditches, as well as direct N2O emissions from soils.

Most importantly in relation to the question poised in the correspondence referred to by the Deputy, the increased methane emissions associated with re-wetting has been included in the calculations and the balance of emissions still return an overall emissions reduction.

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