Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has indicated that his party will be looking for greater changes in Irish farming in regard to climate change.

“We’re going to have to change Irish farming,” Ryan told Morning Ireland on RTÉ.

He continued that the farm payments would have to be tailored more towards farming for nature and that the policy on forestry would also have to change and move away from the forestry harvesting every 30 years.

He said he felt “huge opposition” to Green policy on farming from Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed.

Minister Creed

Minister Creed spoke later on the Pat Kenny Show on Newstalk and said that the water quality programme along with other schemes were vital to the agriculture sector who understood their importance.

“We know we can do more and will do more,” he said, adding that it was the right thing to do for future generations.

Commenting on the overall election results so far and the surge in support for the Green Party, the Minister pointed out that nine out of ten people had not voted for the Greens and it was important to put their success in context.

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