Minister anxious to get land use review published 'before Christmas'
Phase two of the land use review has been delivered to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Minister of State responsible for Housing and the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment, Darragh O'Brien, it was confirmed today (Thursday, November 6).
Minister O'Brien told the Dáil today that the final report for phase two, 'A Living Land' is a framework to inform and support policymakers and landholders "in decisions about future land use in the context of achieving Ireland’s agricultural, socioeconomic, climate and environmental objectives".
He added: "Analysis of national and international best practice is a key feature of this report.
"While A Living Land is not an articulation of government policy or strategy on land use, given the many economic, environmental and social considerations to be balanced when considering land use, the report will inform and support future considerations".
He also said the report outlines the "importance of government leadership" in leveraging the role of State-owned lands to achieve integrated land use objectives and the role that public bodies can play in this.
Minister O'Brien was questioned in the Dáil by Labour Party TD, Ciarán Ahern, as to why he was "holding on" to the land use review and had not published it.
Deputy Ahern said: "There are many big decisions coming up that the report could inform. It is there to inform future climate action plans, some of which we have been looking at and reviewing recently at the climate committee.
"It strikes me it is also relevant to the nitrates derogation negotiations.
Land use
But Minister O'Brien denied that he was "sitting on the report".
Instead he said that it "deserves scrutiny and that actions be taken from it".
"I will use this opportunity to say in the context of looking at land use that while people focus on agriculture it is important to note that agricultural emissions reduced again last year.
"There are many people in the agricultural sector, in the farming sector, who are really changing practices very well and are leading by example.
"This can actually help and I would like to see some of the particular examples scaled up. I am genuinely anxious to get this published. It is not in my gift alone; we have to do it in conjunction with two sister departments. I want to do that before Christmas," Minister O'Brien added.
