Climate bill will kill off the Irish farmer, claim Rural Independent TDs

Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are 'signing their own death warrant' by introducing the bill, says Mattie McGrath

Mattie McGrath: 'We are as interested in mitigating the impacts of climate change as anybody.' File picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

The Rural Independent group says the Government's climate bill will kill off the Irish farmer.

The bill, due before the Dáil tomorrow, will commit Ireland to a path of carbon neutrality by 2050. It would commit Ireland to cutting its emissions by 51% between 2018 and 2030 and to net zero no later than 2050.

"We feel that there'll be no family farm left in 10 years' time; there will be big factory farms and Ireland as a country will be so different," Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath said.

"We are as interested in mitigating the impacts of climate change as anybody, indeed, rural people as well, but they won't be able to live there, work there, and that is an awful sad impact."

The group is tabling numerous amendments, including 0% Vat on insulation for people to insulate their homes but says members will be fighting the "bill line by line".

Mr McGrath said Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are "signing their own death warrant" by introducing the bill.

A number of TDs in the Rural Independent group said that beef or suckler farmers would have to reduce their herd by 50%. Taoiseach Micheál Martin said previously that the State would seek to "stablise" the herd number rather than reduce it.

'Lack of respect for rural Ireland'

Laois–Offaly TD Carol Nolan said the bill displays "a lack of respect for rural Ireland and a lack of understanding as to how rural Ireland operates".

"My county of Offaly is bearing the brunt of a so-called just transition where there's no alternatives, there's no alternative jobs in place, and we will bear the brunt of up to 53% of the job losses that will happen because of this transition.

"I mean certainly measures could be taken in a gradual manner, but hammering rural Ireland and hammering agriculture is not the way to go about this.

It will lead to a loss of jobs, it will certainly lead to family farms being decimated.

"It should be rural-proofed, and we're not proofing the policies here," Ms Nolan said.

Cork South-West TD Michael Collins said the bill is "a massive, massive attack on the people of rural Ireland" and the Government parties "will be ran from the doorstep" in the next election.

Limerick County TD Richard O'Donoghue said that Ireland is trying to be the "good boy in Europe and the world" by setting climate targets while countries such as China have a much worse carbon footprint than Ireland and are doing little to tackle it.

Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae said the carbon tax is "driving people down to the ground".

He said that soon airplanes would be "peeing down on top of us... and they're burning more food than the village of Kilgarvan would in a month".