LAST UPDATE | 27 Jul 2022
NEGOTIATIONS WITHIN THE Government to agree emission reduction targets for the agriculture sector will not be finished this evening.
Negotiations between both the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Environment have wrapped up for the evening, with talks now set to continue tomorrow.
It comes just hours after the last Cabinet meeting before the summer break, which which green-lit proposals on safe access zones and consent laws, did not approve final sector-by-sector targets for emissions reductions as disagreement persists over agriculture.
While talks are said to be progressing well, there has not been a breakthrough between the Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Environment.
However, one Government source said this evening that an agreement may possibly be reached tomorrow or by the end of the week.
Talks this evening were between officials in the two departments, following a meeting between Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan yesterday, which failed to break the deadlock.
A senior Government source said last night that it was difficult to say whether or not a deal would be reached but Ryan indicated this morning he was hopeful for a positive outcome.
Speaking after today’s Cabinet meeting, Ryan said the Coalition was “still working on it”.
Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue gave a thumbs-up through his car window as he left the meeting at Dublin Castle this afternoon.
Climate experts assert that all sectors, including agriculture, must quickly and substantially reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they produce to help prevent catastrophe but farmer representatives – and some Government TDs – are pushing back against a high target.
The Climate Action Plan 2021 outlined draft ranges for reduction targets broken down by sector, including 22% to 30% for agriculture, the lowest target of any sector despite its high emissions.
Agriculture wants to see its target set at 22%, saying that would be “challenging but achievable”, while others say it must be higher if Ireland is to meet its legally-binding climate obligations.
One Green Party Senator, Pauline O’Reilly, has said that the lower end of the scale was “not acceptable” and that she didn’t think the Green Party would accept it.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One, after being asked would the party leave the coalition, O’Reilly said,: “It depends on what figure it comes back at”.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have to now show their true colours and have to not greenwash and actually demonstrate that all sectors have to play their part.”
However, O’Reilly clarified and said that it not being acceptable did not necessarily mean the party would opt to leave the coalition.
Earlier on his way into the Cabinet meeting, Ryan said he hoped that an agreement would be reached but that working it out has been “tricky”.
“I hope we can close the difference and agree the approach today,” he said.
“It’s very significant for every section in Irish society. We’ve got to make sure the changes we make are for the better – good for farmers, good for transport, good for energy, good for employment, good for protecting us against the cost of living.
“It’s taken a bit of time but I am hopeful we can get agreement today. I think getting the right final result is what is important and it will continue to evolve.”
He said Ireland “cannot afford to wait, can’t afford inaction” on climate.
“Agriculture is not the most difficult one in my mind; I think transport is the one that is going to be hardest. In energy, we have such an advantage of switching to renewable power that it’s a matter of organising it.
“Transport, I think, is more difficult because we have set patterns over 50 years that is going to be hard to change, but agriculture is also difficult.”
The Taoiseach hit on a similar note, saying the limits will be challenging for transport, energy and agriculture but that “all sectors will have to stretch themselves”.
He said climate change is “the existential challenge facing the world, and Ireland clearly has to play its part”.
The challenges in these ceilings will be very very significant indeed, from transport, to energy, to agriculture. I would have to say in fairness to agriculture, already the targets that have been set are very very challenging, and will be challenging.
“We’re looking at ways as to how in all sectors, including agriculture, we can stretch those targets and ensure a meaningful contribution all round.”
Lengthy talks between the Department of Environment, led by Ryan and the Department of Agriculture, led by Fianna Fáil’s minister Charlie McConalogue, have tried to tease out a solution in recent weeks but a decision between the coalition leaders has come down to the final hour.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) provisional figures for Ireland’s 2021 greenhouse gas emissions show a 4.7% increase compared to the previous year.
Emissions had decreased by 3.6% in 2020 compared to 2019. Much of the drop that year was due to the pandemic but they had also fallen by 4.5% the year before.
Also before Cabinet today was a proposal from Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to introduce legislation for safe access zone around clinics that provide abortion services.
It will introduce 100-metre zones around locations such as hospitals, GP practices and family planning clinics that would prohibit protests that try to influence the decision of a person seeing a termination.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee brought a proposal for a bill to strengthen laws around consent in rape cases, changing the current situation in which a defendant can be found not guilty of rape by arguing that they believed they had the consent of the other party.
Additional reporting by Tadgh McNally and Press Association
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