Irish Examiner view: IFA must get its priorities in order on climate change

Government has a responsibility to play its role in helping to reduce emissions

A convoy of farmers passing through Dublin city centre last November to call on the Government to listen to their concerns on the common agricultural policy and the Climate Action Plan. Picture: Finbarr O'Rourke/PA

With wildfires blazing across Europe and the Americas, parts of Spain and France in the grip of an early heatwave, many countries in Africa beset by famine and drought, and extreme heat across the great plains of the US, there can be little doubt about the effects climate change is having on the world.

It seems churlish then, for the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) to express “grave concerns” about the Government’s plans to reduce carbon emissions here ahead of the establishment of this country’s new Climate Action Plan.