Climate bill “scaremongering” was slammed by a number of TDs this week as the legislation was introduced to the Dáil for second stage debate.
Following incidents of interruption by members of the Rural Independent Group while Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan gave a speech, a number of TDs have given reassurances that rural Ireland “will not be left behind”, as according to the Social Democrats’ Jennifer Whitmore, and that farming “will continue to be an unbelievably important part of the fabric of rural Ireland”, as deputy Christopher O’Sullivan put it.
Climate bill ‘myths’
The Rural Independent Group has labelled the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill as an “agri and rural bashing bill”, that will “kill the economy while doing nothing to protect the environment”.
The group says the “flawed bill” will cause “immeasurable damage to Irish agriculture, cause food security issues, lead to thousands of direct and indirect job losses across rural Ireland and create enormous and costly volumes of red tape”.
Speaking during the debate yesterday (Thursday, April 22), Fianna Fáil TD Joe Flaherty said that it is “very important that we debunk the many myths that have grown up around this bill”.
“There are no plans, covert or otherwise, to reduce the national herd by 50%. That is scaremongering and it is deeply unfair to the farming community. There is no mention in the legislation or the Programme for Government of a 50% reduction. It simply will not happen,” the deputy said.
“It is true this climate bill will cause farmers to focus on smart farming methods. There needs to be supports and incentives to help them. The key policy instrument in implementing and enabling agriculture to reach climate neutrality by 2050 is set out in the Ag Climatise roadmap launched at the end of last year.
“The best environmentalists are not to be found behind a computer or in a lecture hall. One will find them on the small farms in rural counties.
“There is probably no body of people better placed to know that we need to transition towards a climate resilient, biodiversity rich, environmentally sustainable and climate neutral economy.”
Deputy Christopher O’Sullivan reiterated that any claims of cutting the national herd by 50% “are not true”.
“It was also claimed that farmyards right around Ireland would somehow be empty after the Bill is passed. That is not true,” the Cork South-West TD said.
“Farming is, and will continue to be, an unbelievably important part of the fabric of rural Ireland.
“This is about getting the balance right. On the one hand, people are saying we are going too far, and on the other, there are those who say we are not going far enough.”
Change in approach to calculating agricultural emissions
Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway Denis Naughten told the Dáil that the current system of calculating climate emissions “discriminates against a food exporter such as Ireland”.
“Even though 90% of our beef is exported, Ireland is penalised for being the most carbon efficient beef exporter within the EU because the rules state responsibility is on the producer, rather than the consumer,” the deputy said.
“Relatively, carbon efficient beef production in Ireland can, therefore, be replaced throughout the union with beef that is 35 times worse from an environmental perspective coming from the Amazon basin.
“Unless we completely change the approach to calculating agricultural emissions, we will decimate the industry here in Ireland while also destroying our atmosphere for generations to come.
“This is a lose-lose situation unless we look again at the maths behind the climate targets.”
‘Freeing our farming community’
People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith said that net zero “is a con that the global climate movement has already called out”.
The Dublin South-Central TD added that the right climate legislation “would take on the beef barons on whose behalf our agricultural policy has been framed”.
“Yes, that means a reduction in the herd but, more importantly, it would mean freeing our farming community from the grip of the big agri-business that has been responsible for the slow strangulation of our farming communities and family farms.
“It would mean a rebirth of rural communities based on horticulture and make farming both sustainable for our environment and for farmers at its heart.”