Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2023
584. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which he remains satisfied regarding the future of the dairy industry here, with particular reference to the need to reduce carbon emissions while at the same time ensuring the development of the industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35528/23]
View answerI remain confident that the outlook for the Irish dairy Industry remains positive - the long-term fundamentals of the dairy sector are really strong. We produce safe, nutritious and sustainable dairy products that are in demand across the globe.
The Irish dairy industry is one of our largest and most profitable industries. In 2022, Irish farmers produced over 8.8 billion litres of milk, an increase of 0.7% on 2021. Irish dairy exports reached almost €7 billion in value in 2022; we exported over 1.6 million tonnes of dairy products to over 130 different countries, making dairy the largest food and drink export category. Strong market returns across the core categories of butter, cheese, and powders, coupled with diversification efforts into new markets, have led to a sustained increase in value.
Climate action is a priority across for our country as a whole. Irish dairy farmers and the dairy industry are no less conscious than other sectors of society of the need to play their part in driving down emissions. The sector came together last year in the Food Vision Dairy Group with the first priority of the Group to chart a pathway to achieving the legally binding target of a 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture by 2030, set in mid-2022 through the Climate Act process.
The report of this Group published in October 2022, identified a number of measures which will contribute directly to emissions reductions associated with dairy production including reducing chemical fertiliser use; replacement of ammonium-based fertiliser with protected urea; development of methane-mitigating feed technologies and breeding strategies.
The publication was timely as it then served to inform the Climate Action Plan 2023 which was launched in December 2022. The implementation roadmap for actions outlined in the Plan is contained in a supplementary annex of actions which was published in March.
My Department will work collaboratively with all other Departments and agencies involved to implement these priority actions.
