Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2023
8. Deputy Alan Farrell asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the development of the centre for sustainable animal and grassland research; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55511/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy question relates to the status of the development of a centre for sustainable animal and grassland research and for further information to be provided to the House on that matter.
I thank Deputy Farrell for raising this matter. I can confirm that Teagasc has submitted a preliminary proposal to my Department to establish a centre for sustainable animal and grassland research at Moorepark in Fermoy. The new centre will replace the existing, out-of-date grassland laboratory and metabolism house facilities in Moorepark. Teagasc developed this proposal with the objective of facilitating research that can provide innovative solutions to improve the environmental sustainability of our very good pasture-based systems.
I was pleased last week to attend a Teagasc event to announce that the FBD Group has agreed to provide €6 million towards the development of the centre. This is a very significant contribution by the group and a welcome development for farmers and the agriculture sector in general. I thank the FBD Group for its very generous financial support towards this project.
Teagasc will now be engaging in detailed planning and design of the new centre, which will be subject to the normal approvals process and controls for capital projects in the public sector as set out in the public spending code. I also add that last week we announced that the new centre will be called the Padraig Walshe centre for sustainable animal and grassland research in recognition of his contribution to Irish farming, and indeed at the time of his untimely passing he was chair of FBD. This €6 million towards this project has come forward from the FBD Group in recognition of his legacy. I look forward to the detailed plans being developed in the months ahead and their submission to my Department for approval, in consultation with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.
I commend Teagasc on bringing the project to this stage of development. We are very fortunate, as I am sure Deputy Farrell will agree, to have an organisation like Teagasc to support farmers on the journey to drive down greenhouse gas emissions and further improve the sustainability of the agriculture sector. It is very important it continues to play a very significant role, which it has always done so well, in producing food.
I thank the Minister very much for the response. I am very fortunate to be very familiar with Teagasc's operations. It has two in Fingal, one large and one small, and it plays an invaluable role in agriculture. This is a relatively new departure for myself in the sense of the sustainable farming model, which is extraordinarily important as we move towards 2030 and beyond, in particular in the level of research required to ensure we are as sustainable as possible and to ensure we are able to support farm families, which, of course, is critical to the process of decarbonising all sectors of our society.
I very much welcome the information that the Minister has provided me with. It is very good to hear about FBD's very significant contribution, and it certainly is that. I do not think any organisation putting €6 million into a research project facility is taking its responsibilities lightly. I commend it on doing so and I look forward to the progress that will be made within the new facility in Fermoy.
I thank the Deputy for those comments. This is an exciting new development. That new centre for sustainable animal and grassland research will be an important project in reaching that 25% emissions reductions by 2030. With the challenges facing the dairy industry in the form of emissions, the centre will help Teagasc to expand its research capacity in grass physiology, animal physiology, animal nutrition and animal health. That will make a real impact in the years ahead.
It will also help the agriculture sector in adapting to climate change by facilitating research in the development of new cultivars of grass and clover that are resilient to changes in weather patterns and that will reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture. We are all very much aware that issues like water quality are equally very challenging, and we need more research in this area to bring forward solutions. It will be helpful in that regard. Moorepark has made a very significant contribution to our agricultural food scientific development in recent years and this will help to ensure is the case in the years ahead.
When we talk about sustainable farming, there is a great deal of talk about sustainability generally, and everybody claims to be sustainable. For example, Amazon is very sustainable, notwithstanding the very large proportion of returns which went to landfill and the fact it is wiping out shops in small towns and villages across Ireland. This firm claims to be sustainable.
Likewise, a big discount retailer-----
Is this a supplementary question on the principal question, Deputy?
Yes it is, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. Big discount retailers stick a seeding roof on their shop a call themselves sustainable. When we talk about sustainable agriculture, we have to know exactly we mean by sustainable. It is very important to define that.
I know that a newly elected Green Party councillor in 2019 said that Origin Green was painting a false image to the world and that it will come back to bite us. That Green Party councillor back then was right. That would be my worry. If we are talking about sustainability, we have to be able to show it is actually sustainable.
We absolutely have to do so. We have an opportunity in Origin Green, and we have put together a package which reflects what we do in Ireland and tells that story across the world. The fact we are pasture- and grass-based makes us unique compared with many other food-producing nations. It also has great advantages in animal welfare as well as the fact it is a very sustainable way of producing livestock and of turning grass into either beef, lamb or dairy products.
We have to continue to do way more and to continue to stay in the leadership position in this regard. We must continue to look to see how we can reduce emissions in growing grass and, in particular and more importantly, how we can reduce emissions from animals. Research on that will be very important and the work will go on at this new scientific centre which will be very important in adding to our already very strong credentials.
