The lack of input from farm organisations on the Climate Action Bill when it was being debated in the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action has been labelled as “very unusual”.
Senator Tim Lombard, who was elected to the Seanad from the Agricultural Panel, said the lack of engagement with farm organisations by the climate committee was “irregular to say the least”.
Speaking to Agriland today (Friday, June 25), Lombard said that he sat on the committee during the previous Oireachtas, prior to 2020, noting that farm organisations would have been invited to speak there “several times”.
Lombard highlighted this issue in a contribution in the Seanad this week while Minister for Climate and Environment Eamon Ryan was in the chamber.
“It is about bringing the agricultural community with us. That will probably be one of the very significant challenges we will have with this legislation,” he told Minister Ryan.
“There is great unrest in the agricultural community at present. People in that community believe there has been a lack of engagement so far. They fundamentally believe they have not been engaged with on the key issues in this climate action proposal,” Lombard highlighted.
He continued: “How we can now re-engage the agricultural community is a challenge for the Oireachtas and the committee on climate action. That committee has to invite members of the agricultural community in at some stage. They need to be a part of the process and involved in the system.
“It will also be an issue for the minister and his department to ensure that the agricultural organisations and community will be involved in this process.
The senator went on to highlight that Ireland “has the most educated farming students in the world”, and these farmers “are a resource which we must get on board”.
He went on: “The younger generation of farmers are far advanced regarding what is involved and what is needed. They know it themselves… Now, it is about sustainability. Farmers know that if they are going to compete in world markets, their product must be sustainable.
“If we have large protests outside Leinster House in the next few months then we will have started on the wrong foot… Now is the time for us to engage with farming organisations, as well as the farming community itself because if we do that, we then can move forward together,” Lombard urged.