IFA deputy president Brian Rushe has called for a more balanced debate on media and political platforms when it comes to representing and debating farmer views on the climate bill.

“I don’t want to name political groupings, but I’m worried that farmers are presented at times in this debate as unwilling to change or rise to the challenge,” Rushe told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Minister for Climate and Environment Eamon Ryan was met with heckling and jeers at the second reading of the climate bill on Wednesday from a number of rural TDs, who also refused at one point to take their seats as Minister Ryan made his speech.

We want to be constructive in regards to the climate bill

“We have to call out and say that’s not fair,” Rushe said.

“Farmers want to be involved and deliver. We want to be constructive in regards to the climate bill.

“I feel maybe that farmers' voices are getting lost in this debate because the media make it one side versus the other.

“This is not a one side versus another debate - it’s about understanding each other’s perspective.

“Look at the difference in the last 10 years and the changes farmers have already made in terms of helping the environment.”

Rushe added that vulnerable sectors would have to be supported and that it also needed to be recognised that the cost borne by farmers in the work they were already doing to support the environment was not represented in food costs.