Clare farmers are hitting out at proposals to reduce national herd numbers in the revised Climate Action Plan.
Ministers are set to sign off on new targets at a Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
Proposals to cut the national herd by ten percent on a voluntary basis, along with reducing the number of private cars on roads by 20 percent, are set to be brought before Cabinet tomorrow.
Ministers are adjusting and revising the current Climate Action Plan, which calls for a halving of all emissions in the State by 2030.
However, it’s understood that there won’t be a cull enforced on farmers, with measures and schemes looking to ensure farmers reduce numbers off their own backs.
Cratloe-based General Secretary of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association, Eddie Punch, believes there’s been a failure from Ministers to market Irish products effectively.
A South East Clare farmers insists new technology should be looked at before herd cuts are proposed.
Kilmurry McMahon-based Chair of the Independent Farmers of Ireland group, Seamus Shannon, says Ireland is lagging behind other countries in that area.
One of Clare’s Independent Dail deputies believes the Government’s rhetoric on assisting farmers with a sustainable transition isn’t matching its actions.
Scariff-based Independent TD Michael McNamara believes any cut in production of beef or dairy will only be filled by other countries, such as South American states, under the Mercosur trade deal.
Ministers are set to sign off on the new targets tomorrow.
Listen back to the full interview here:
