Ireland’s carbon quota strategy team deserve great credit

Ireland may lose milk quotas this year, but could instead have been shackled by carbon quotas were it not for a breakthrough in October that should not be overlooked in any review of 2014, suggests Stephen Cadogan.

Up to the October meeting of EU prime ministers, Ireland faced tightening targets for reduction of our greenhouse gases (GHGs).

Because one third of these gases come from our agriculture (compared to 10% in most of the EU), we faced a worst-case scenario of ‘carbon quotas’ for agriculture.