Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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2157. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine by how much the Government intends to reduce the national herd; within what timeframe; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41152/25]

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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There are no plans to reduce the national herd.

The Food Vision Dairy and Beef & Sheep Groups were established in 2022 to advance the actions for those sectors identified in the Food Vision 2030 strategy, taking account of the requirement to contribute to achieving the targets set for agriculture emissions in the Climate Action Plan. The first priority for the Groups was to chart a pathway to achieving the legally binding target of a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 2030, equivalent to a reduction of 5.75 MT of carbon dioxide equivalent.

One of the recommendations of the Food Vision Dairy Group was to consider the potential of a voluntary reduction scheme for the dairy herd.

My Department’s examination of this issue has shown that to achieve emissions reductions through a herd reduction scheme would require a permanent move away from livestock production systems on lands under the scheme. It is also clear that there are a number of legal, financial and state aid complexities with designing and implementing a scheme of this nature.

Stakeholder discussions showed that there was limited interest in proceeding with such a scheme. In this context we have been clear in communicating that the cow reduction scheme was off the table and that our collective priority must be on other actions which are feasible.