Taoiseach under fire over 'national herd' comments

The Taoiseach's comments go against the position of Green Party leader Eamon Ryan and environmental campaigners who have repeatedly said farmers will have to change practices to tackle carbon emissions and this will result in a herd reduction.

“There’s no cut to the national herd," Mr Harris said.

He said farming is seen by some people as "a kind of discretionary extra" but he stressed that it is "a core part of the Irish economy".

The Taoiseach, who was speaking just hours after he attended a €100m investment announcement by Diageo to decarbonise the historic St James’s Gate site in Dublin, added: "There was no one in Diageo this morning saying should we cut back on the beer. 

"They’re saying how do they do it in an environmentally sustainable way."

Mr Harris added: "This is about supporting the family farm. 

Farmers aren’t afraid of change, what they’re afraid of though is that sometimes people have a view of change that seems to be about dissing the agri food sector. We have to do both.

But University College Cork professor of sustainable energy Hannah Daly said there is no comparison between brewing beer and farming.

“The environmental impact of brewing beer is not remotely comparable to livestock farming, especially for beef, lamb, and dairy,” Ms Daly said.

“Unfortunately, Ireland’s farming system is heavily focused on producing these high-emissions foods, making the country a major outlier globally in terms of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.

“With the right support, a transformation of how Ireland produces food and uses land could have major benefits for farmers, but right now, the Government is not grasping this nettle and taking the necessary steps to make this transformation happen.”

She added that Mr Harris’s comments around individuals “dissing” farmers were “deeply divisive”.

Under new sectoral carbon budgets, the agriculture sector is being asked to cut emissions by 25% by 2030. 

Large amounts of these emissions are generated by both beef and dairy cattle, with methane generated through digestion and waste.

Mr Harris strongly defended his party's long-standing move to intensification of the agriculture sector, and said Fine Gael did not make a mistake in expanding the dairy industry.

'Inconsistent'

Green Party TD Brian Leddin said Mr Harris is "completely inconsistent" in stating that farmers will have to do things differently, but refusing to acknowledge that this will translate into a cut in the herd.

"Is he right to say that the intensification was the right thing? I would argue that what they did about 10 years ago, they pursued an economic model in agriculture, which was all about high volume and low margin.”

Mr Leddin, who is running in the Limerick mayoral elections, added there is another model which involves a higher unit price and paying farmers who protect the environment.

"Farmers have been sold a pup I would say by Fine Gael, who 10 years ago were cheerleading an unbridled expansion, and they have been sold a pup by the farm representative organisations.

"The best solution for farmers, surely, is to pay them for environmental services that they provide, which is what the Green Party supports, and to pay them a better unit price for their produce so that they don't have to be just pushing volume all of the time.”