As recently as October of last year, eco socialist TD Paul Murphy of People Before Profit was urging the government to cull the national herd for environmentalist reasons.
Murphy insisted that Ireland’s national herd “absolutely has to be cut if we are to meet our climate targets.”
Far-left TD Paul Murphy has insisted that Ireland’s national herd “absolutely has to be cut if we are to meet our climate targets.” @Ben_Scallan reacts.#gripthttps://t.co/Q3wp0soEUo
— gript (@griptmedia) October 21, 2021
Paul Murphy cheerleading the destruction of the Irish beef industry. pic.twitter.com/WUgW1FmiUs
— JRD (@JRD0000) October 20, 2021
While Murphy’s proposal could be seen as radical or fringe, even members of the government coalition such as Leo Varadkar believe in “herd stabilisation,” which essentially amounts to a reduction of herd numbers by other means.
Eamon Ryan has said he believes with climate policies the national herd will reduce naturally over time.
Climate change: Ryan says national herd likely to reduce naturally https://t.co/8d7eOxiNoe
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) October 26, 2021
Michael Healy-Rae TD asserted at the time that “stabilisation means a cut.”
‘Stabilisation means a cut’ argued Michael Healy-Raehttps://t.co/osSq8ezmMw
— thatsfarming.com (@thatsfarming) November 6, 2021
Whether you agree or disagree with that, the point is, there are many people in politics who are convinced Ireland’s farming sector will shrink one way or another in the coming years.
You also look at things like Irish fishermen losing more quota in their own waters after Brexit, and the way in which horticulturalists have been hammered by the loss of fertiliser, and you can see that the Irish food production sectors are well and truly on the ropes.
This, by definition, means Ireland will have to import more of its food from abroad. It’s not like our dietary needs will decline just because we aren’t producing as much. Every man, woman and child on this island will still need to eat three square meals a day at least. Which leaves us extremely vulnerable to situations like the one we’re potentially facing right now.
If you were following the news recently, you will remember the following headline from the Irish Examiner:
“Risk of fuel and food being rationed ‘low’ but not impossible, says Ryan”
Emergency measures to cut petrol and diesel costs to kick in at midnight https://t.co/8XnbW8WqQl
— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) March 9, 2022
As recently as a week ago, the Irish government was warning that they could not rule out food and fuel rationing in the coming months due to supply chain issues and global turbulence. These are radical measures that this island has not seen since the Emergency of World War 2.
Price of day-to-day items to soar and food shortages possible in 'war economy', warns Taoiseach https://t.co/8lLheJVcCj
— Irish Examiner (@irishexaminer) March 13, 2022
In short, the European agriculture market has been decimated by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Grain exports in Russia and Ukraine account for 12% of the world’s calories, and numerous key ports in the Black Sea have been shut down.
Additionally, over 20% of the world’s maize comes from Russia and Ukraine, a large amount of which is used to feed farm animals. According to the Irish Grain and Feed Association, the war has created an 8 million tonne maize shortage in Europe.
Moreover, over 60% of Ireland’s potassium fertiliser and 30% of our nitrogen fertiliser come from Russia and Belarus. Last year, a tonne of fertiliser cost €250. This year, Irish farmers are facing €720 a tonne.
Every core element of the food supply chain is affected by the war in Ukraine https://t.co/8CSDhsmnYO
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) March 4, 2022
And of course, the fuel shortages and price hikes mean that farmers can’t afford to operate their machinery.
And all of this comes mere months after the government was debating whether or not we should be scaling back our own domestic agricultural resources. I think that question has been officially answered.
There is absolutely no reason why an island which such fertile land and such a history of farming should be on the verge of food shortages. In the same way Ireland’s crippling energy dependence has been exposed by the Ukraine crisis, we are only now starting to get an idea of the dangers of food dependence, and this will hopefully be the wakeup call our leaders need to reduce these insane policies once and for all.
*Note: Empty shelves thumbnail is from the US in 2012 and is merely meant as a representation of what food shortages generally look like.*