Local farmers are among those expressing their concerns after agreement was reached on emissions targets.
Under the Plan, the agriculture sector will have to reduce carbon emissions by an extra 25%by the end of the decade.
IFA President Tim Cullinan has warned that if the Government doesn’t protect the farming sector, there will be devastation in rural Ireland.
“Government need to wake up here and realise that we have a sector in rural Ireland and that sector needs to be protected or you’re going to have absolute devastation, not just at farm level but at societal level up and down rural Ireland aswell”
Speaking on The Way it is on KCLR Kilkenny IFA Chairman Jim Mulhall said he has big concerns for how this reduction can be achieved on his farm and others:
“There’s loads of ambition there but I just don’t know how much money is going to be behind it. The reality is we have financial committments here on this farm based on the number of cows that we milk and if we have to reduce the herd I don’t believe the Government is going to put money into this now to the extent that it will compensate me for the gap”
You can listen back here to that discussion with Sue Nunn:
Carlow Kilkenny Green Party TD and Junior Minister Malcolm Noonan welcomed the certainty that has been brought by a deal being reached.
And speaking on KCLR Farm Show with Matt O’Keeffe he says the reality is that the cost of doing nothing would be far greater for everyone:
“There was 1.57 million hectares of land burned across Europe in the last couple of weeks. So the reality is we have to act and we have to act fast”
You can listen back in full to that interview and other discussions on the KCLR Farm Show here
