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Ireland: ‘We won’t be ignored or pushed aside’ – farmers take to streets of Dublin

Irish farmers protest through Dublin, Ireland – Copyright Finbarr O’Rourke

Ireland currently has the highest methane emissions per capita of all EU member states, with much of this due to beef production.

By Margaret Donnelly
Farming Independent
November 22 2021

Excerpt:

“It is very easy for Government to say you are part of the solution, but what are they going to do for us?

“Farmers are very conscious of the climate challenge, and farmers want to play their part. But this Government has no plan. Farmers are being talked at, rather than talked to.

“The Government needs to provide more funding, including a properly funded Common Agricultural Policy, to ensure that farmers can take on the climate challenge while remaining viable,” he said.

“We now know we have to reduce emissions by 22pc in farming, but what’s involved in that? I understand the concern among farmers up and down the country.”

“We are the only sector that is being asked to reduce our activity.

“No other sector is being asked to scale back and we are seen as an easy target. We are the solution.

“If we do not produce beef and grain here, it will be produced in another country that will have a higher carbon footprint.”

Mr Cullinan also pointed out that only 30pc of farms in Ireland were viable, and the Government’s policies would make more family farms unviable.

“The farming and food sector employs 300,000 people across the country, and we contributed €13bn in exports in 2020. We will not be ignored or pushed aside,” he said.

Read the complete article here.