All over Ireland, young people are starting their State exams this week.

The Leaving and Junior Certificate exams began on Wednesday in the Republic. Indeed Northern Ireland’s GSCE O and A level exams have been running since mid-May. All the preparation, study and revision will hopefully pay off – we wish them all luck.

Meanwhile, Eamon Ryan and his Cabinet colleagues have some revision of their own to do. The Climate Action Plan sectoral targets announced last October are about to be revised.

More specifically, the broad bands will be narrowed, with the potential for the inclusion of annual targets.

Lowest target

Agriculture, as has been pointed out by almost everyone in Government, has the lowest sectoral target range of those involved. That also means the near 50% gap between the lower and upper range of its target zone is wider, so these discussions are of particular importance.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are both trying to shore up their falling farming vote at present, and will want to keep farming’s sectoral target as manageable as possible. But Eamon Ryan was straight out of the blocks last year with a contrasting view. The day after the sectoral targets were revealed, he said he expected all sectors would have to reach toward the upper end of their range for national targets to be reached. Similar noises from “Government sources” populated last weekend’s papers.

No excuses

Of course, we have to reach our national target, we have committed to a binding international agreement. This is one test the country must pass, and farming must play its part. But anywhere near 30% demands profound changes in farming.

The best way to pass any test is proper preparation. Study is required for even the brightest of students. There is a glaring lack of study in terms of assessment of the economic impact on farming of reaching the more demanding target.

And yet we have had nothing from Government in this regard – the same Government that demands farmers carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment before clearing a medium-sized field of scrub.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin. \ Conor McCabe Photography.

One assessment was conducted – the KPMG report, commissioned and paid for by this publication. All three party leaders – Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, and Environment and Climate Minister Ryan dismissed the report as a doomsday scenario, implying a lack of objectivity. By implication that undermines any report conducted by KPMG, or indeed any of the “big four” accounting firms. But where is their study? And if it’s done, why not share it?

Any student will tell you revision without having done the study beforehand is bound to fail. The Government is in danger of falling into that trap.