Farmers should be paid “to produce quality food and to help us restore nature”, the Minister for Environment, Climate, Communications and Transport, Eamon Ryan has said today (Monday, June 12).
According to Minister Ryan, Ireland has to “prioritise” climate and nature and “get on with the job” of delivering the National Development Plan and the Climate Action Plan .
The minister also urged that these plans – which include a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for agriculture by 2030 – should be delivered with “speed, at scale, with ambition”.
The Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Minister Eamon Ryan and the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, are hosting the National Economic Dialogue 2023 today in Dublin.
The event has brought together senior representatives from all sectors, including agri-business and farming, environmental groups, business unions, community and voluntary groups, trade unions and academic organisations to discuss key issues in advance of Budget 2024.
Minister Ryan said the event enabled people to “have an open exchange on economic and social priorities of government”.
“We have to keep people at the heart of everything we do, ensuring that quality of life and opportunities are better in 2030 than they are now – by paying farmers to produce quality food and to help us restore nature; by ensuring that we end child poverty; and by creating well-paying green jobs, powered by our own homegrown, clean, green energy,” Minister Ryan said.
During the event the minister chaired a discussion on the Climate Action Plan and how the country can “prioritise among all of the available options for achieving emissions reductions within each sector”.
Food Vision 2030
The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon, also chaired a discussion during the National Economic Dialogue today on ‘Moving to a Sustainable Food System’ where the government’s Food Vision 2030 strategy was a central theme.
During the discussion agriculture’s “impact” on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was highlighted.
A National Economic Dialogue briefing document stated:
“The agricultural sector in Ireland is faced with the challenging and ambitious target to deliver a 25% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030.
“Amongst other things, delivery of this reduction will be dependent on our ability to reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers, reduce biogenic methane emissions from the national herd; reduce nutrient loss to waterways; and increase afforestation and the area of organic farming.”