Government parties are treating the agriculture sector and farm incomes as if they were poker chips on a gambling table, says Independent TD Carol Nolan.

“Farm incomes are not poker chips that Government parties can gamble recklessly with,” she said.

The Laois-Offaly TD made the claim amidst continued uncertainty and political commentary on the emissions reduction target to be set for the Irish farm sector.

‘Highly contentious’

Speaking on Monday, Nolan described the ongoing negotiations between Government parties on the legally binding emission target to be set for farmers as “highly contentious”.

“It is now clear that the main objective is less on how to secure the future of Irish farming and more on how to keep the Government from being collapsed by a radical Green agenda,” the opposition TD said.

She warned that serious questions are also emerging around the compatibility of the emissions targets for agriculture and need to maintain a robust national food security policy.

Outlining the rumbles in Leinster House over the issue, Nolan said: “Today and over the weekend we have reports of serious infighting among Government parties on the emissions reduction target that will emerge.

“As a rule, for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members, it is about saying in private what they do not have the nerve to say in public; that the ask of anything at or even close to 22% will create massive levels of destabilisation within the sector.”

Waking up from slumber

The TD acknowledged there are a “few contrary voices within Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael” and said these politicians are “finally waking up from their slumber on where these unrealistic levels of green ambition have taken us”.

Nolan said that rural Independent TDs like herself “have been proven correct on the detached and deluded nature of the objectives that are being set.”

“I know from my own questions to Minister McConalogue that he has established the National Fodder and Food Security Committee headed by Teagasc and that he has tasked it to prepare an industry response to the emerging crisis in feed, fodder, fertiliser and other inputs, and to develop contingency plans and advice to assist farmers in managing their farm enterprises.

“But what on earth will be the point of this worthwhile initiative if our Government sabotages farm and agri-incomes from within?” she asked.

Practicality required

Nolan called on Government parties to “get real” in order to make the debate about agriculture’s emissions “practical, achievable [and] sustainable”.

“It cannot be about forcing the square of Irish agriculture into the round hole of a radical emissions target and to hell with the cost to peoples livelihoods or lifestyles. There are higher stakes here than keeping ministerial and back bench seats warm.”