The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has hit back at claims that advertising campaigns promoting the “sustainability” of Irish milk is “absolute greenwashing”.
The People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Bríd Smith told the Dáil that she intends to make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) in relation to claims made in advertising campaigns by the National Dairy Council and Bord Bia.
The Dublin South-Central TD said: “I found the bombardment by the National Dairy Council’s campaign around World Milk Day recently, particularly on television, alarming. It was nothing other than a greenwashing exercise.
“I was alarmed that it portrayed a need for us all to consume more and more dairy on the grounds that it was efficient, good for the planet, made everyone look happy-clappy, green and healthy.”
Irish milk
Deputy Smith also asked Minister McConalogue if the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) “funded campaigns by the National Dairy Council and Bord Bia about the supposed sustainability” of Irish milk”.
In response, Minister McConalogue said the DAFM had not provided funding to the National Dairy Council for any advertising or promotional campaigns.
“Funding to Bord Bia is made annually by way of an Exchequer grant from my department in order to fulfil its functions to promote, assist and develop the marketing of Irish food and drink.
“Bord Bia promotes on the twin bases of quality and sustainability. To be very clear to the deputy, Bord Bia is not spreading climate disinformation. It is quite the opposite,” the minister stated.
He also told Deputy Smith that whenever he listens to “nutritionists on television or radio, they advocate for the nutritional benefits of milk as a food”.
“It is a fact that Ireland has a comparative advantage in grass-based livestock production and the carbon footprint of a unit of milk produced here is one of the lowest among milk-producing countries globally because of our grass-based system,” Minister McConalogue said.
Deputy Smith also referenced the recent RTÉ Investigates programme which highlighted the mistreatment of calves in the Dáil and said it exposed a “level of cruelty to animals that takes place” in the dairy industry.
“Every year, the industry slaughters 35,000 male calves because they are absolutely useless and those that are exported for the veal industry are treated like they were vermin,” she added.
Minister McConalogue said the scenes on RTÉ Investigates were “unacceptable and totally intolerable” and that DAFM is investigating.