Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 May 2024
497. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the comparable environmental impacts of agricultural produce produced in Ireland and the produce imported into the EU form the five largest countries in terms of volume; and if the information is not available to him, if he will carry out a comparable environmental impact assessment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21775/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy department has has not commissioned the specific comparative analysis sought by the Deputy.
However, The Economic and Sustainability Impact Assessment (ESIA) for Ireland of the EU-Mercosur Agreement, commissioned by the Government and published in June 2021, includes a Comparative Analysis of the Impacts of Methods of Production in the Beef Sector in Ireland, versus Mercosur countries, including analysis of emissions intensity.
Additionally, research funded by DAFM under the 2022 Policy and Strategic Studies Research Call entitled “Greenhouse gas emission efficiencies of Irish beef and dairy systems”, undertaken by Teagasc and ICBF is underway.
The focus of GHGBovine is to:
(1) determine the current total GHG emissions and GHG intensity (i.e. per unit product) of a range of beef and dairy production systems operated within Ireland;
(2) determine the temporal change in GHG intensity from said production systems;
(3) host workshops with European and International collaborators to ensure a harmonised dairy life cycle assessments methodology is deployed across life cycle assessment (LCA) models;
(4) conduct LCA of nationally representative beef and dairy production systems operating in European countries and dominant international exporting countries. The FAO's Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model (GLEAM) will be used for this. This project will provide the current emission efficiency of Irish beef and dairy systems, how they have progressed by implementing recommended management practices, and how they perform relative to European and key international counterparts.
This work will provide valuable information in relation to the Irish Beef and Dairy sector.
