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It is not sustainable. I am sorry, I cannot get a word in here.

It is not sustainable for any Department to continue to pay out funding on one-off measures. That is why the focus has to be on the future, on mitigation and on climate adaptation. That is why I urge the Senator, her colleagues and the farmers she represents to engage with that consultation and highlight what will stop them. We cannot keep going back out when something happens saying we need compensation. Compensation is not a sustainable model. We have to look at climate adaptation. The Department funds-----

This is-----

Businesses are the same, whether it is a farming business or another business. It is not sustainable to keep compensation measures going.

I thank Senator Warfield for raising this Commencement matter. I am here on behalf of the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Martin. I will provide an overview on the establishment of a digital legal deposit for Irish web archiving and an associated timeline. Legal deposit legislation is an important instrument in national cultural policy. It is relied upon in many countries to ensure the published output of a nation is collected and preserved by one or more prescribed instituti…

The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has been working closely with the National Library on establishing the deposit scheme to serve as a web archive for the .ie domain. This process requires consultation with all the relevant stakeholders and consideration of aspects of intellectual property and data protection. A draft report on the feasibility of establishing a digital legal deposit scheme to serve as web archive for the .ie domain contents has been prepared and the proposed legisl…

I thank the Senator. I am here to answer on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. The climate action plan, as outlined by the Senator, and the national retrofit plan set ambitious targets to retrofit the equivalent of 500,000 homes to a building energy rating of B2 or cost optimal and the installation of 400,000 heat pumps in existing homes to replace older, less efficient heating systems by the end of 2030. To promote and incentivise the achievement of these targets,…

I thank the Senator. I listened with interest to both her concerns and the points she raised. There are challenges when it comes to apartment blocks and how the Department deals with them. It is eager to iron out some of these difficulties and to understand how best it can move matters forward. The project being supported at the EU level will in some ways help to iron out a number of those issues. It is essential that we bring everyone on the journey when it comes to retrofits, energy-use reduction and cheaper, war…

I will share my time with Senator Garvey. Before I begin, I would also like to pay tribute to Senator David Norris as he retires from political life. I did not have an opportunity earlier. I pay particular tribute to his work to advance LGBT+ rights in Ireland despite the great personal cost. As the first openly gay person elected to public office, he smashed a glass ceiling so that others could follow. He has been a champion for human rights, for his local community in Dublin city centre and for our collective bui…

We currently have a budget of €256 million under the CAP for the organic sector. Organic farming in Carlow has seen significant growth over the past three years. There are currently 33 farmers from Carlow participating in the organic farming scheme. Under TAMS II, farmers in Carlow received grant aid under the organic capital investment scheme, which provides for on-farm investments such as upgrades to agricultural buildings and machinery and facilitates the adoption and application of new technologies. The organic…

It is tomorrow.

It was changed to 15 December.

I am here to support my colleagues with the motion. Everyone can relate to what it means to people. Pretty much everyone in the country has been touched by cancer or had a close friend or family member touched by it. My mother went through this. She had shortish hair at one stage and it was not so bad losing it. We were younger at the time - I was in my late teens or early 20s - but it was distressing for me and my brother to see someone lose their hair. This impact on wider families is also something to be cognisa…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I am answering this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy McConalogue. The Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, is the body approved in Ireland in accordance with the relevant EU legislation to conduct testing, genetic evaluations and publication of breeding values for dairy and beef cattle. As part of its remit, the ICBF recently updated its beef breeding indexes, the first major update since 2015, based predominately on changing economic drivers such as feed costs and be…

I accept there are challenges for some farmers with this. There are mitigating pieces in there that may help iron out some of the issues. Ultimately, the purpose of this and the changes in the indexes are, maybe more in the longer term, to support farmers to breed animals that are more productive and that are more profitable. In this day, profitability on farms is probably the most important aspect. The Department will continue to engage on this with the breed societies and the farm organisation representatives. We…

I thank the Deputy for the question. As she and maybe many Members of the House will be aware, social farming provides a planned outcome-focused support placement for people on a farm using the natural assets of the people, the place, the activities and the community to support a person to achieve some of his or her chosen goals. It has been shown to provide benefits to participants such as improved community connections and relationships, increased self-esteem and capacity, improved health and well-being as well a…

I thank the Deputy. As she outlines, social farming is continuing to grow. It certainly is growing year on year and its reach is far, and very much into the lives of many people for their enrichment and that whole connection with people. The social farming network funded by the Department is still in development. We are at a stage of growth. It requires substantial support. Certainly, as I indicated, funding for placements comes from a wide variety of sources. The knowledge of social farming is now being embedded w…

I thank the Deputies. It is clear everyone places a huge value on the role social farming plays. Indeed, I have had the opportunity to visit social farms in Kerry, Mayo and, most recently, County Laois. The last is a new social farm. It is great to see the spread and the growth. What is also great to see is the value we can place on it because we have seen it in action for a time and the impact it has on people, not only on the participants but on the host farmers as well. There is great value there for people in g…

I thank Deputy Smith for the question. It is an important aspect and something many people want to understand. The Deputy will probably be aware that the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, is responsible for the reporting of emissions and removals associated with land use activities on an annual basis to the EU and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC. Hedgerows are currently accounted for under the grassland heading of the inventory. However, my Department is undertaking much work t…