A TD has claimed that the government “doesn’t give a damn” how much carbon is sequestered by Irish farms, according to one TD.
Danny Healy-Rae was speaking in the Dáil when he raised the issue of both emissions reduction and the EU Nature Restoration Law.
Dáil questions were being taken by Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath at the time.
Healy-Rae raised the issue of “how government policy is being fine-tuned to cut farm production by rewetting, cutting dairy cow numbers, and the Nitrates Directive”.
“This will impact directly on farmers’ incomes, reduce vibrancy in every sector of rural communities, and impact on food security and increases the cost of food to everyone in the country.”
The independent Kerry TD said that many farmers are “sequestering carbon all over the country, more carbon than they emit”.
“It is wrong to penalise and curtail farmers for producing when no credit or recognition is given to those who are sequestering carbon,” he added.
Healy-Rae also referred to the Nature Restoration Law as an “obnoxious proposal”, and that rewetting of drained peatland is “discriminating against farmers on poorer land-types”.
“The government is not being truthful to farmers. It is not telling them what is needed or what is going to happen.
“Earlier this year, the government agreed that farmers would have to cut their emissions by 25% and said this would be achievable. The government should tell us what it is going to do and what farmers have to do because farmers want to know,” he commented.
He added: “Farmers are already sequestering carbon and they are getting no credit for that. How can the government say that farmers must cut production and cut their emissions when the government does not know how much emissions they are already sequestering.”
Healy-Rae commented: “That is a crucial point. The government does not know what that are sequestering and it does not give a damn, apart from putting farmers under pressure by telling them they will have to rewet their lands and cull their cows.”
Government response
Responding to the Kerry TD’s comments, Minister McGrath said the position on the Nature Restoration Law adopted by the Council of the EU this week is “one that [the government] can support”.
“As previously outlined, Ireland remains supportive of the ambition and the principles underpinning the proposed regulation. However, the challenge involved in meeting the ambition proposed remains very significant, as we acknowledge,” he added.
He also said that he “would be more optimistic” than Healy-Rae on the question of farm emissions and sustainable farming.
“I have no doubt that with the support of…all of the partners who are working very closely with the [Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue], his department, and the stakeholders – the farm organisations and the individual farmers themselves – we will chart a way through this,” Minister McGrath said.