Independent TD for Laois-Offaly, Carol Nolan, has called 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 emissions.
Deputy Nolan was speaking after it emerged that Brazil’s exporters predicted an estimated increase in the country’s national livestock numbers of 24 million.
She said: “It is time for the equivocation and ambivalence to end.
“We need a definitive commitment from government that it will protect the economic interests of Irish farmers.
“We cannot and should not accept a situation to develop whereby one of the strongest sectors in Irish agriculture is effectively sacrificed for what amounts to a miniscule and irrelevant contribution to the global reduction in emission numbers.
“The recent projections by Brazilian exporters have made this abundantly clear.
“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.
“We have already seen 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.”
Deputy Nolan called on the government to become ‘honest’ on this matter,
She said: “Do we really want to continue down this path when it is now abundantly clear that other major beef producing countries such as Brazil are only too happy to totally ignore environmental objectives in the pursuit of competitive advantage?
“Is Ireland really ready to offer up our farmers in the face of such indifference?
“Government must get honest on this matter, but it must also be ready to stand over the harsh and unavoidable economic realities that its polices are creating.”
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