Sinn Féin has no position on emissions cuts and refuses to set target for national herd cut

Darren O'Rourke said Sinn Féin cannot come up with a position on agriculture reductions without seeing a report compiled for the Government by McKinsey

Darren O'Rourke said his party has agreed to an overall carbon reduction of 51% by 2030, he said he could not provide clarity on the specific reductions for each sector.

Sinn Féin has no view on the level of emissions cuts farmers should be asked to make and has refused to say whether the national herd should be reduced.

As the Government remains locked in talks around setting a carbon reduction target for the agriculture sector ahead of Wednesday's Cabinet meeting, the main opposition party has yet to adopt a position on the issue.

While Sinn Féin climate spokesperson Darren O'Rourke said his party has agreed to an overall carbon reduction of 51% by 2030, he said he could not provide clarity on the specific reductions for each sector.

Mr O'Rourke said Sinn Féin cannot come up with a position on agriculture reductions without seeing a report compiled for the Government by McKinsey.

However, other opposition parties and groups have come out with a specific target, including the Social Democrats and People Before Profit with both calling for an upper limit reduction of 30% for agriculture.

Mr O'Rourke said: "Agriculture must pull its weight, just like every other sector. The targets must be fair, they must be ambitious, but they must be achievable.

"What that means in terms of percentages, what that means in terms of the transformational change that's going to happen across every sector, that needs to happen across every sector, we do not have the detail, line by line, percentage by percentage, and we're not going to pick a figure out of the air."

Darren O'Rourke. Picture: Damien Storan

Asked specifically if Sinn Féin believes there should be a reduction in the national herd, Mr O'Rourke said: "We do not have the information. We don't know what's achievable. We do not know what's achievable with a static herd number."

He said that Sinn Féin would not be providing specific targets to voters if a general election was called in the near future.

"We wouldn't have detailed targets, what we would have is a period of an election and then whoever is the incoming government, because of the way the legislation was set down, it's up to the Government and individual ministers to come up with sectoral emission ceilings.

"So whoever was the incoming government would have responsibility and they would have the resources of departments and consultants."

Mr O'Rourke said there has been a "toxic discourse" in relation to the setting of greenhouse reductions for the agriculture sector.

"I think it's safe to say it's been quite adversarial. It's been quite difficult."

He added that any targets would have to be achievable and said that the Government's own current targets have been missed by a significant amount.