Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has been urged to “hold firm” and insist that the carbon emissions cut for farmers is limited to 22 per cent during his talks with Green Party leader Eamon Ryan.
Senior Fianna Fáil backbench TD Barry Cowen issued the call to resist higher cuts in a letter to Mr McConalogue and Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Tuesday.
His intervention comes on the eve of a meeting between Mr McConalogue and the Minister for Climate, where they will seek to reach an agreement on the Government’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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The high-stakes negotiations are seeking to agree on a target for the agriculture sector to reduce its emissions in the period between now and 2030.
Last year the Government agreed an indicative range of cuts in agricultural emissions between 22 per cent and 30 per cent. Mr Ryan is pushing for a figure towards the higher 30 per cent range to be agreed, while Mr McConalogue warns that anything more than a 22 per cent cut would put significant pressure on farmers already struggling with higher costs and other difficulties.
In his letter Mr Cowen tells Mr McConalogue: “I wanted to impress upon you the need to hold firm on insisting that 22 per cent be the emissions target for agriculture. While we encounter record temperatures and the worsening impacts of climate change, Irish farming shouldn’t be the scapegoat — many other sectors and continents hold a bigger responsibility.”
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The Laois-Offaly TD argues that “farming has shown it will do its duty to the planet as it does every day to our heritage and traditions”.
He says programme for government commitments, legislation setting out carbon budget obligations, the Common Agricultural Policy agreement and new environmental schemes “have all contributed to ensuring a level of buy-in by the sector which might not have been envisaged a few years ago”.
Mr Cowen says this progress is “commendable” and is a “solid foundation for ensuring our world-class products will maintain their competitive edge into the future …There will be no doubt further potential for increased emissions targets when present expectations are realised.” And he adds that Government incentives and initiatives will “evolve and help of course”.
But Mr Cowen goes on to warn that “any undue increase in emissions targets beyond the 22 per cent at this stage would destabilise the foundations put in place, disrupt the harmony achieved to date and impact on our agricultural base support in my view”.
He suggests offshore wind and wave energy generation could be “fast-tracked” and that the Government’s ambition in this area could be improved.
“It’s incumbent on Minister Ryan to drive Eirgrid, CRU [Commission for Regulation of Utilities] and his department to realise far greater return from such authorities in developing new, competitive energy markets,” writes Mr Cowen. He adds that this would benefit businesses and households “in terms of price and sustainability”.
