Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue has refused to be drawn on what the reduction target for agriculture will be under the Government’s new climate action plan, set to be published next week.

“It’s clear from the programme for government that the ambitions for agriculture as part of the climate action plan will be lower than other sectors,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal on Wednesday.

Unique status

“This is due to the unique status of Irish agriculture in the overall national economy as well as specific science around agriculture.

While the sectoral targets are not yet published, the targets for agriculture will be fair and proportionate. Agriculture will continue to play its part but I am confident our target will be proportionate to what we can deliver.”

Speaking on RTÉ’s Primetime on Tuesday night, Minister McConalogue pointed out that agriculture emissions last year were 0.5mt CO2Eq lower than they were in 2018.

The year 2018 is the base year being used by the Government and the Climate Change Advisory Council to make their decisions on carbon budgets and sectoral targets.

The Government has indicated that a cut of 21% to 30% will be imposed on the agriculture sector.