Irish farmers are concerned about the intentions of EU politicians in the field of ecology

“The real costs to agriculture to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions will be huge,” MEP Chris McManus warned.

“We are in a situation where we need to cut emissions fairly quickly. Any future government will have to push for emission reductions and achieve internationally agreed targets. The question is how to do it."

“Because Ireland's economy is a service-based economy with little heavy industry, beef and dairy exports seem to have a large share of emissions,” McManus said.

Emphasizing that Ireland is one of the most environmentally friendly places to produce beef, the MEP said: would not be a major environmental achievement and would cause economic damage to rural Ireland.”

He believes that any government would pursue such a course, because reducing emissions in agriculture requires much less public investment than similar cuts in transport or energy production.

"Make no mistake: the real costs of developing agriculture will be huge, but they will not be reflected in the government's balance sheet," McManus said.

“Rural Ireland, which is based on small and medium family farms, has been the victim of green policies in the past. Any new environmental policy could wipe out these farmers instantly and easily, while more intensive industrial animal husbandry patterns and large-scale industrial feed producers continue to expand, which will be counterproductive in terms of reducing emissions.”

“When we needed large wind farms, the planning rules for onshore farms were abolished. There was no national plan, just wind turbines scattered around the area, regardless of the suitability of the area or the opinion of local residents.

McManus stated that "farmers are right to be wary of environmental politics if they are carried out by traditional right-wing parties."

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