Backbench and opposition TDs are seeking a swift clarification of the measures that will need to be implemented to reduce emissions from the farming sector by 25% over the next seven and a half years.
Rural TDs from both within and outside Government told the Irish Farmers Journal that the roadmap that would be drafted to lower the sector’s emissions would need to be published as soon as possible.
Here, we got the reaction of some of those rural TDs.
Michael Fitzmaurice - Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway
Michael Fitzmaurice TD branded the target a "sell out" by Minister McConalogue. / David Ruffles
Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice expressed disappointment with the target that had been set, adding that Government backbenchers would experience first-hand the impact of the 25% reduction target when seeking re-election over the coming years.
“It’s a sell-out by Charlie [McConalogue]. We know that we were able to achieve 22%, but we are not fit to achieve 25%.
“It’s the rural TDs form Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that who will be hit. It’s time for the TDs who wanted 22% to stand up and be counted.
“Farmers will be hit with all of the reduction targets. With fuel, with energy, all of them. Any of the other sectors will only have to look after themselves,” Fitzmaurice said.
Matt Carthy - Sinn Féin TD for Cavan-Monaghan
Sinn Féins Matt Carthy TD has yet to see any credible roadmap to achieve the target. \ Philip Doyle
Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy emphasised the need for the roadmap to an emissions reduction of 25% to be published by Government, pointing out that the Government had missed environmental targets it had set for itself in the past.
He commented that collaboration between Government and opposition would be needed to formulate this plan.
“We need clarification of the schemes, of the funding model and the supports that will be used to reach this target.
“At the heart of this, the Government has never reached any climate action targets in the past.”
Barry Cowen - Fianna Fáil TD for Laois-Offaly
Former Minister for Agriculture Barry Cowen TD explained that he would not say much until he had been fully briefed on the targets. \ Philip Doyle
Former minister for agriculture Barry Cowen said he has yet to be briefed on any detail on the emissions targets and declined to confirm or deny his support for the 25% target until he was briefed.
However, he did say that he had “always feared that it would be around the 26%” mark. He doubts that the sector has the “capacity and ability” to meet the target.
Denis Naughten - Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway
Naughten told the Irish Farmers Journal that he believes the target should have been closer to the 22% figure.
“Whether it was 24% or 26%, I don’t think it makes a major difference, it all comes down to the policy implemented by the Department over time.
“There is a view that the agriculture sector is a soft touch. I fear that come 2029 the focus will come back on agriculture and ask us to do more.”
Paul Kehoe - Fine Gael TD for Wexford
Wexford TD and former minister of state Paul Kehoe cited concerns around carbon leakage in his comments to the Irish Farmers Journal.
He also stated that he would not have expected the target to have been as high when the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for the Environment began talks.
“I knew there would be some compromise, but I thought it would be 24%, not 25%” he said.
When asked if he would have been surprised with the figure when negotiations on the target had begun, Kehoe replied: “It would have been a disappointment.”
“We all know that changes have to be made. It’s now about what supports are there. Something else I will want to see in the detail is what happens with farm solar panels.
“Farmers have recently been painted as the bad guys. Now, it’s time to reset the narrative.”
Colm Burke - Fine Gael TD for Cork North-Central
“It’s going to be a challenge to meet that targe. I thought it would be lower,” said Fine Gael TD Colm Burke.
He said that the major investment carried out by the sector has been jeopardised as a result.
In terms of supports for farmers, he said there will be demand from Government from all sides.
“We need to reach a balance that doesn’t leave agriculture out in the cold. As a Government TD, this is what has been agreed and I would have to give support to it,” he said.
Carol Nolan - Independent TD for Laois-Offaly
Carol Nolan TD condemned the 25% emissions reduction, stating that Government had been “captured hook, line and sinker by a fundamentalist green ideology”.
“Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens have sown the seeds of a massive rural revolt following this repugnant agreement,” said Nolan.
“The target level that has been agreed is without a shadow of a doubt absolutely toxic and inflammatory.
“It will introduce massive levels of destabilisation into a sector that has already moved heaven and earth to find ways of effectively engaging with responsible methods of carbon mitigation,” she said.
Backbench and opposition TDs are seeking a swift clarification of the measures that will need to be implemented to reduce emissions from the farming sector by 25% over the next seven and a half years.
Rural TDs from both within and outside Government told the Irish Farmers Journal that the roadmap that would be drafted to lower the sector’s emissions would need to be published as soon as possible.
Here, we got the reaction of some of those rural TDs.
Michael Fitzmaurice - Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway
Michael Fitzmaurice TD branded the target a "sell out" by Minister McConalogue. / David Ruffles
Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice expressed disappointment with the target that had been set, adding that Government backbenchers would experience first-hand the impact of the 25% reduction target when seeking re-election over the coming years.
“It’s a sell-out by Charlie [McConalogue]. We know that we were able to achieve 22%, but we are not fit to achieve 25%.
“It’s the rural TDs form Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that who will be hit. It’s time for the TDs who wanted 22% to stand up and be counted.
“Farmers will be hit with all of the reduction targets. With fuel, with energy, all of them. Any of the other sectors will only have to look after themselves,” Fitzmaurice said.
Matt Carthy - Sinn Féin TD for Cavan-Monaghan
Sinn Féins Matt Carthy TD has yet to see any credible roadmap to achieve the target. \ Philip Doyle
Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy emphasised the need for the roadmap to an emissions reduction of 25% to be published by Government, pointing out that the Government had missed environmental targets it had set for itself in the past.
He commented that collaboration between Government and opposition would be needed to formulate this plan.
“We need clarification of the schemes, of the funding model and the supports that will be used to reach this target.
“At the heart of this, the Government has never reached any climate action targets in the past.”
Barry Cowen - Fianna Fáil TD for Laois-Offaly
Former Minister for Agriculture Barry Cowen TD explained that he would not say much until he had been fully briefed on the targets. \ Philip Doyle
Former minister for agriculture Barry Cowen said he has yet to be briefed on any detail on the emissions targets and declined to confirm or deny his support for the 25% target until he was briefed.
However, he did say that he had “always feared that it would be around the 26%” mark. He doubts that the sector has the “capacity and ability” to meet the target.
Denis Naughten - Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway
Naughten told the Irish Farmers Journal that he believes the target should have been closer to the 22% figure.
“Whether it was 24% or 26%, I don’t think it makes a major difference, it all comes down to the policy implemented by the Department over time.
“There is a view that the agriculture sector is a soft touch. I fear that come 2029 the focus will come back on agriculture and ask us to do more.”
Paul Kehoe - Fine Gael TD for Wexford
Wexford TD and former minister of state Paul Kehoe cited concerns around carbon leakage in his comments to the Irish Farmers Journal.
He also stated that he would not have expected the target to have been as high when the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for the Environment began talks.
“I knew there would be some compromise, but I thought it would be 24%, not 25%” he said.
When asked if he would have been surprised with the figure when negotiations on the target had begun, Kehoe replied: “It would have been a disappointment.”
“We all know that changes have to be made. It’s now about what supports are there. Something else I will want to see in the detail is what happens with farm solar panels.
“Farmers have recently been painted as the bad guys. Now, it’s time to reset the narrative.”
Colm Burke - Fine Gael TD for Cork North-Central
“It’s going to be a challenge to meet that targe. I thought it would be lower,” said Fine Gael TD Colm Burke.
He said that the major investment carried out by the sector has been jeopardised as a result.
In terms of supports for farmers, he said there will be demand from Government from all sides.
“We need to reach a balance that doesn’t leave agriculture out in the cold. As a Government TD, this is what has been agreed and I would have to give support to it,” he said.
Carol Nolan - Independent TD for Laois-Offaly
Carol Nolan TD condemned the 25% emissions reduction, stating that Government had been “captured hook, line and sinker by a fundamentalist green ideology”.
“Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens have sown the seeds of a massive rural revolt following this repugnant agreement,” said Nolan.
“The target level that has been agreed is without a shadow of a doubt absolutely toxic and inflammatory.
“It will introduce massive levels of destabilisation into a sector that has already moved heaven and earth to find ways of effectively engaging with responsible methods of carbon mitigation,” she said.
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