Skip to main content
Normal View

Agriculture Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 November 2021

Tuesday, 2 November 2021

Questions (1223)

Richard Bruton

Question:

1223. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the type of activities which can qualify for farm payment from the new programme funded from carbon tax; and the projected impact they will have on carbon equivalent emissions. [52901/21]

View answer

Written answers

The new CAP Strategic Plan will run from 2023 to 2027, and each Member State's Plan is due to be submitted to the European Commission by 1st January 2022 for approval.

Working in consultation with other Government Departments, as well as State Agencies, my Department is coordinating the development of Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan. Carbon tax funding over the period will be used to fund our flagship Agri-Environmental Climate Measure (AECM), in keeping with the Programme for Government commitment to spend €1.5 billion over the period to 2030 to help farmers to farm in a more environmentally sustainable way.

The AECM will deliver a range of environmental, climate and biodiversity benefits by supporting farmers to undertake appropriate actions. The nature of the actions will be determined by the needs of each farmer's land and environs. Many of these actions will have co-benefits for biodiversity, water, soil, and air quality as well as contributing to climate objectives.

A key climate-related sub-action is reduced management intensity of grassland on peat soils. This will help to reduce emissions and protect the peat carbon pool. Other sub-actions such as low input grassland and planting of trees and hedges will also help reduce emissions.

The AECM is still at the design stage. In addition, uptake of actions in this voluntary scheme will be demand-led. Taking these factors into account, it is too early to project the specific impact the AECM will achieve. However, it will align with, and contribute to, Ireland’s climate objectives.

In due course, information on uptake levels for specific measures will be made available for scheme evaluation and to the Environmental Protection Agency. This will ensure effective monitoring as well as allowing national greenhouse gas inventories to be updated.

Top
Share