The Government is edging closer to a deal in climate negotiations, with hopes growing an agreement can be reached before the end of the week.
However, while a pathway to a deal has been mapped out, multiple sources involved in the talks cautioned that key issues still needed to be resolved and that no overall agreement had ben reached.
The Coalition is scrambling to secure an agreement on key climate targets with fears that failure to find a solution could defer the decision until at least autumn on an issue of paramount importance to the Green Party.
One source suggested Green Party leader Eamon Ryan is refusing to come below 26 per cent cut in emissions for the agriculture sector, with Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue refusing to go beyond 24 per cent. The leaders of the coalition parties would be asked to make the final decision if no agreement can be found.
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A draft memorandum for the coalition leaders is being prepared, multiple sources said.
Coalition insiders said no side would be a clear winner from the negotiations, even if they are concluded successfully, and that stakeholders on all sides would be disappointed.
Earlier today, Mr Ryan said he was “hopeful we can get there” on a deal on emissions targets but that “nothing’s certain yet”.
Speaking after the Cabinet meeting Mr Ryan said “we’re still working on things”. He declined to comment on remarks by the chair of Green Party Senator Pauline O’Reilly suggesting it would not “put up” with lower levels of cuts for farming, saying he did not hear her interview.
Senator O’Reilly said earlier it is time for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael “to show their true colours” when it comes to emission targets and “not greenwash”.
When asked if the issue of lower emission targets for agriculture was worth leaving government, she said she did not think the Green Party could “put up” with figures as low as 22 per cent or 23 percent as, at the end of the day “agriculture is unsustainable in Ireland at current levels”.
“At the end of the day this can’t wait, we need to stop talking, we need to agree on a target and get on with the action that’s required”, she told RTÉ radio’s Today show. “I don’t believe that it would be useful to wait until September. This issue has to be addressed urgently - I’ve seen what Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers are saying, but at the end of the day this comes down to what the leaders agree.
“We went into government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, they agreed to 51 per cent reduction by 2030 as indeed did Sinn Féin - all of those parties now need to show their true colours.
“For every percentage point lower than 30 per cent (for the agriculture sector) then other sectors have to do more. This is critical”.
Senator O’Reilly said it did not suit the Green Party not to be in government, nor did it suit the party not to have their goals met.
“Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael now need to show their true colours and have to not greenwash and actually demonstrate that all sectors have to play their part. It is quite clear from the news that the Taoiseach has said we are in an emergency.
Separately Fianna Fáil TD Barry Cowen has said it may be better to wait until autumn for a decision on agriculture emissions.
He said the programme for government referenced the special social and economic position of agriculture in climate plans and sectoral ceilings and raised question marks around methane classification. He said these points were “an indication of the need for Greens to understand we want to bring farmers, their reps and the industry with us, not kicking and screaming but united with clear achievable goals”.
Speaking at a Sail Training Ireland event in Dublin, Government chief whip and Minister for Sport Jack Chambers said more time may yet be needed to strike a deal on emissions from the agricultural sector.
“It’s everyone’s preference to see the matter concluded but obviously if it needs additional time and space and the discussions can’t conclude then we’ll have to take that,” he said. “We need calm and engaged discussion and that’s what Minister Ryan is doing with Minister McConalogue.”
Earlier on Wednesday Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “it is not easy” to decide what level of climate emissions targets should be imposed on each sector, after the three Coalition leaders failed to reach an agreement on Tuesday night
Speaking on his way into Cabinet, the Taoiseach said the challenge in relation to agriculture is to acknowledge the greater part it will play in the energy sector in the future, and “to reconcile the importance of food production system supply with the climate change issue which is undoubtedly there”.
“So the Government would obviously like to see agreement on this but there are challenges, it is not easy, but we are determined to get this resolved and suffice to say that all sectors of society and all sectors of our economy including agriculture will have to make that contribution. And then, once we set targets, focus will have to switch on delivery.
“It’s one thing to set targets, that’s in some respect a bit easier than realising the targets over the next number of years.
“What we’re trying to do here is avoid the worst consequences of climate change. We’re not going to avoid climate change now, we can see that with the heatwaves during the summer, but what we can do for future generations and for our children’s children, we can limit those consequences.
“What the difficulties reflect in reaching an agreement, they reflect the significance of the challenges. I think it’s important that we get a resolution, but that we do it in a way that facilitates delivery down the road and real momentum in relation to climate change.”
