Sinn Féin wants to see all sectors, including agriculture, deliver the highest possible levels of emission reductions, according to the party’s agriculture spokesperson Matt Carthy TD.

However, he said “this must be achieved fairly in a way that protects rural economies and allows for Ireland to continue to produce high-quality food”.

The Cavan-Monaghan TD said Sinn Féin advocates for proposals which would allow farmers to “diversify back” to sectors such as tillage, horticulture and suckler farming in an “economically feasible manner”, according to Deputy Carthy.

He said this would be different to the “approach of successive governments”, which he said has “forced Irish farmers into an intensive, low-profit margin model” and led to the “expansion of the dairy sector”.

He said that in the wake of such Government policy, which has led to dairy expansion, other farm sectors have “reached crisis point”.

Sinn Féin position

The Cavan-Monaghan TD made the comments when asked by the Irish Farmers Journal for clarity on Sinn Féin’s position on the carbon emissions target to be set for the agriculture sector.

He was also responding to accusations by Fine Gael climate spokesperson Alan Farrell TD that “Sinn Féin’s lack of clear climate action policies are a potential risk to the country”.

Carthy said: “It is pathetic that Fine Gael are attacking Sinn Féin, or any other party, on climate action, considering that they in government have failed to ever reach targets that they themselves set and that they have overseen the development of crises in forestry and other sectors.

“Fine Gael are primarily responsible for the challenging situation that agriculture is current in and their attempts at shifting the focus will be seen by farmers for what they are.”

The opposition TD warned that it is “laughable that Fine Gael are criticising others for not setting sectoral emissions targets while the Government that they are part of are locked in a bunker precisely because they cannot agree to those targets”.

“That Government have also refused to engage with opposition parties by providing the reports, analysis and modelling that would allow others to make an informed position on this issue,” he said.

Set and reached

Carthy said that his party’s “priority is that [emissions] targets that are set are reached”.

He said this is “unlike this Government who have been setting ambitious targets but failing to reach any of them”.

“It is not good enough for Government to announce a sector emissions ceiling, they also need to clearly state the measures they will employ to achieve it.

@So, within the agricultural sector, what we need to focus on now is the actions that are required to rapidly reduce emissions in a way that is fair and effective,” he added.

‘Important indigenous sector’

Sinn Féin recognises that “agriculture is Ireland’s most important indigenous sector”, according to Deputy Carthy.

“We understand the importance of farming to our society and to rural communities. We want to protect that while ensuring that agriculture has ambitious, but, crucially, achievable targets, on emissions reductions.

“We also want to see the crisis in the forestry sector resolved. This crisis has worsened under the watch of a Green Party minister to such an extent that this year will see the lowest rates of afforestation since the middle of World War II,” he said.

More organics

Deputy Carthy said we “must deliver a more ambitious approach to organics”, detailing how the Irish Government has set a target of 7.5% of farm area compared with a European Union target of 25%.

On organics, he said “Government are currently failing to reach their own pathetic targets".

He described the assessment of the “current carbon sequestration, storage and emissions on a farm-by-farm basis” as the “best way to deliver emissions reductions in agriculture”.

“This will allow us to incentivise farmers to reduce emissions, increase sequestration measures and engage in other important carbon reduction measures, such as renewable energy generation, and, if necessary, ensure that any penalties are directed at those who don’t,” he said.

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