The Rural Independent Group of TDs has said that proposals contained in a new climate report would “destroy” the livelihoods of farmers.
The study, seen by Agriland, said that Ireland will need to cut livestock numbers by up to 30%, plant up to 875,000ha of forestry and carry out significant rewetting of drained soils to meet legally binding climate change targets.
The study was prepared for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by scientists at Atlantic Technological University (ATU) Galway.
They found that achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the AFOLU (agriculture, forestry, and other land use) sector by 2050 will be “very challenging”.
Report
The leader of the Rural Independent Group of TDs, Mattie McGrath has condemned the report and demanded that it be incinerated by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
The Tipperary TD said the study was “a vicious strike against the heart of rural Ireland” and “lays bare the devastating impact of the government’s radical green policies on Irish farming”.
“The proposals, which aim to reduce the national herd by 30%, will destroy the livelihoods of Irish beef, dairy, and sheep farmers and compromise the very food production that our nation depends on.
“If these proposals are implemented, rural Ireland will face ‘mass destruction’.
“The report [which] calls for a reduction in livestock numbers and a quadrupling of forestry cover, together with rewetting 90% of reclaimed land, will have a devastating impact on our communities, homes, and traditions,” he continued.
Rural Ireland
“The authors of the report seem to have no regard for the people who call rural Ireland home, as their proposals would turn it into a national park,” McGrath claimed.
“It is evident that the government has lost touch with rural Ireland, as evidenced by the creation of this report, which was funded by taxpayers’ money, and their plans to hammer farmers with emissions reduction targets of 25%.
“We demand an unequivocal statement from the Taoiseach and the Minister for Agriculture, assuring us that no reductions in cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep will be considered or implemented, and that the report will be immediately disregarded and incinerated.”
A spokesperson for the EPA told Agriland that “as with any publicly funded independent research, any opinions, findings or recommendations expressed in the research report are those of the authors and do not reflect a position or recommendation of the EPA”.