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Members of the Rural Independent group have told the Dáil that Ireland has been reduced to a “laughing stock” over government plans to cut cow production in the name of climate change. The TDs were speaking as they introduced their Private Members Bill into the Dáil today – a Motion on Culling the National Herd.
Kerry Independent Danny Healy-Rae told the House that countries including the USA were “laughing” at Ireland over the “laughable” plans to reduce the national herd.
“Whatever you do […],” he told Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, “You won’t change the weather, I can assure you […] and you’re hurting people […] I’m very disappointed […],” he told the Dáil.
Introducing the group’s motion to challenge government plans to reduce the national herd, Deputy Michael Collins said that culling cows from the dairy and beef sectors will have “devastating consequences for many farmers.”
He described as “horrendous” changes being forced on farmers by the Green Party, with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gail in agreement.
Meanwhile, Laois Offally Independent Carol Nolan told the Dáil that the Irish agriculture sector has been plagued with uncertainty through the destabilisation of Brexit and other developments regarding international trade.
Deputy Nolan criticised the government for “all of the time sending out the message that we need to reduce our meat consumption, change how we eat.”
She said there is a push for “less meat, more insects” and “less animal-based protein”.
“For the Greens in particular,” she said, “It is a case of grasshoppers before grass-based beef. It would be a joke it it weren’t so serious,” she said.
“The almost subliminal messaging on these issues from lobby groups is unmistakably clear,” she said. “I have been calling for a definitive commitment from government that it will not impose any mandatory cuts to the national herd as part of its efforts to reduce agri-based emission since 2021, when Mercosur emerged as the major threat.”
“At that, it had emerged that Brazil’s exporters predicted an estimated increase in the country’s national livestock numbers of 24 million cows – and here we are, contemplating a reduction of anything up to 200,000, which in relative terms, compared to Brazil, is likely to be far more damaging,” she continued.
The TD said it was time for the “ambivalence” to end, saying that a “definitive commitment” was needed from government that it will protect the economic interests of Irish farmers.
“We cannot, and should not, allow a situation to develop, whereby the strongest sectors in Irish agriculture are effectively sacrificed for what amounts to a minuscule and irrelevant contribution to a reduction in emission numbers.
‘RECKLESS AND SHAKY RATIONALE’
“Indeed, there is now a very real chance that this government is going to make Irish farming the laughing stock of Europe and beyond, because of the imposition of absurd, economically self-destructive policies which have no chance, whatsoever, of making the kind of difference for which they are being pursued,” she said.
Deputy Nolan said that Irish farmers must be “protected and not dictated to” – as she described Irish farming as “the best” in the world.
“The rationale is reckless and shaky; it doesn’t make sense. We have already seen that the negative prospects for beef farmers outlined in the government’s own independent assessment of the economic, social, environmental and human rights impacts of the EU Mercosur trade agreement. Irish farming is the best in the world.
“We develop premium products that are in great demand combined with a farming community that are excellent stewards of the environment and protectors of the land. They need to be protected and not dictated to.”
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine of Ireland, Charlie McConalogue, responded to the opposition TDs by insisting the government was working to “support our farming families” and to examine proposals put forward by the opposition to challenge government policy.
He said he had made it consistently clear that the government “has not put forward any proposal to cull the national herd” – however, he continued, “But we have been engaging with farm owners and all stakeholders in relation to how we continue our great tradition and our important role in this country of food production, while reducing the emissions footprint of how we produce that food”.
He referred to government efforts to achieve the 25% target of reducing emissions in the agricultural food sector by 2030, which he said, would contribute the the “51 per cent reduction in the economy, generally”.
He said the government had a “full commitment” to working with farmers to achieve a 25 per cent reduction in emissions – something the Minister said farmers supported.
“We are working collaboratively in that regard,” he said, promising that only “voluntary measures” would be enacted.
“Farmers are up for doing that, and farmers want to do that,” he said. “They are very poorly served very often by the narrative that is out there […] the reality is that they are (interested in reducing emissions) and we are working very closely with them as a government to support them in doing that,” the Minister said.
However, Kerry Independent Michael Healy-Rae TD, challenged the Minister, stating: “It everything was as rosy in the garden as you’ve just stated, [the farmers] wouldn’t have been marching here. You wouldn’t have had farmers so concerned up and down the length and breadth of the country.”
The Rural TD said he listened carefully to the Minister’s claim that farmers were poorly served by TDs in opposition, challenging the claim.
“I’ll take you on in that,” Healy-Rae retorted. “I challenge you directly […] The farmers that I work for, the people that I represent […] I’ve always defended farmers, no matter what sector of farming they’re in […] because I’d like to think that I’ve a thing called common sense.
“But unfortunately,” he continued, “This government, under the direction of the Green Party, you’ve sold your souls. I’ve said it here over and over again, and I don’t get satisfaction from saying this: Fianna Fail have lost rural Ireland. The Greens never had rural Ireland.
The TD promised government ministers that they would see a “tsunami of opposition” in next year’s local election over their approach to agriculture.
“This will be shown and relayed next year when there will be a local election, and you will see the tsunami of opposition to what the government has been doing, and I really, really mean this,” Healy-Rae said.
Addressing the motion on culling cows, Healy-Rae told McConalogue that 20 years ago, there were “good schemes” in agriculture. He said that situation no longer stands, with such schemes “overburdened with bureaucracy and red tape” for farmers.
“We had a good scheme to bring young people into farming,” he said. “We had a good scheme to let people go out of farming – a retirement package – and they were good schemes. They were meaningful. The schemes we have now are overburdened with bureaucracy and red tape, and what they actually mean to people at the end of the day in a financial way, are very, very little.
He described such schemes as “woefully inadequate” and “a pittance in comparison to what they actually should be”.
“And [such schemes] are so hard for people to get,” he added.
He questioned the rationale for why farmers are being told their herds must diminish.
“Why? Because the Greens want us to do so. And what is going to be the alternative? [..] Our ‘damage to the environment’ to do our agriculture is far less than anywhere in the world,” he claimed.
“It’s the exact opposite. We’re leaders in production, we’re leaders in producing milk, in producing beef, in producing lamb, at minimal disruption to the countryside,” he said.
He also pointed to the situation in Brazil, where they are increasing their herd.
“They’re forging ahead, because they see the stupidity of what people like us are being told to do under your direction,” Healy-Rae said.
“Time will prove that you’re wrong,” he told the Minister. “Time will prove that our motion here today is right.”
He urged politicians to “stand up for the electorate” and vote in favour of the Private Members Bill, while forgetting about the “irrelevant” Greens.
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