There has been much talk about the role of agriculture in respect of our climate action targets. The most common question farmers ask is what this will mean for them. It would be useful if it were possible to carry out a full audit of the carbon storage and capture that is taking place on every farm in order to reward farmers who are involved in good practices and to encourage others to follow suit. Is that something the Minister intends to pursue?

The Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine held a number of informative hearings on these issues because it is an area in which we all will admit that we are still learning. I asked this specific question regarding the baseline studies as to whether it is possible to carry out a farm-by-farm analysis and audit so each farmer would have a clear view of what sequestration, storage and emission is taking place on his or her farm and the farmer can then trade or be rewarded for improvements in that regard.…

One of the great travesties of Irish farming, particularly when we are talking about climate action, is that those farms which are richest in biodiversity, which are doing most on carbon sequestration and which are causing least pollution are also the least profitable farms in the State. We need to ensure we do not repeat our mistakes. I have lost count of the number of people who have pointed out to me things which they were paid to do on their farms and which now they are being paid to undo. The important work fa…

In the climate action plan, the target for sequestration from forestry post 2030 is 2.1 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, but that is premised on the assumption that we will plant 8,000 ha of new forestry each year. There is not a hope that we will reach that goal. The Minister of State asked why farmers who have licences are not planting. She has asked that question three times that I am aware of in Dáil debates. She has said it would be interesting to find out why. Why has she not asked them? I can tell her …

I commend Deputy Richmond for asking this question. On his final point, I agree we did not utilise the EU market outside Britain sufficiently. There is scope for growth in the EU market. This must be based on a premiumisation model whereby we compete based on the quality and sustainability of our food rather than on price or the quantity exported. We cannot win a race to the bottom but we can win a race to having top-quality, sustainable food produced a relatively short distance from where we can have the biggest i…

In November 2019, the Government signed the contract for the national broadband plan, despite several warnings that it was a bad deal for the taxpayer. Indeed, the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform warned that the consortium could recoup all of its money by 2028 and then sell up shop. Nevertheless, the taxpayer agreed to fork out €2.7 billion for a network that we will never own. The broadband plan is now way behind schedule. Its target for homes connected by next January has been…

What about the investors sucking out the money?

So do I. What about the investors sucking out the money?

The Tánaiste signed the contract.

Can I ask a supplementary question?

I am not from a fishing community. I do not understand the complexities of the fishing sector and have never made any pretence that I do. However, I have been listening and all of us in this House need to listen to what is becoming an endangered species, the Irish fisherman. It is one of the travesties of an island nation that we do not have a world-class fishing fleet and world-class fishing industry that would inspire pride in all that it does. In that context I read the seafood task force report. In completing i…

It is not working

Hear, hear.

Is giving away public land to private developers the solution?

That is the cause of the housing crisis in the first place.

The Taoiseach has not recognised the role of Fianna Fáil policies in causing the housing crisis.

The Government is giving away public land to its private developer friends.

Fianna Fáil caused the housing crisis.

They will not be affordable. That is the problem.

He did not answer our questions either.