The EU state wants to meet its environmental targets by slaughtering more than 200,000 cows. The plan is to cull 65,000 cows a year for a duration of three years in order to reduce harmful emissions produced by agriculture.
According to reports seen by the Irish Independent, in order to meet the ambitious climate targets, the Irish government has proposed to earmark 600 million euros for the culling of 65,000 cows per year over a three-year period. The government intends to have the country functioning with zero carbon emissions by 2050. In order to meet such lofty aims, 10 per cent of all livestock in Ireland would need to be “displaced” in the years ahead. In the report seen by the Irish Independent the Department of Agriculture put forward the idea of putting to death 200,000 cows to enable the agricultural sector to play its part in reducing emissions.
However, many Irish farmers are unconvinced by the notion of a mass culling. Speaking to Newsweek, Pat McCormack, the president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association said: “We should be investing in an infrastructure that can deliver from a scientific perspective. And we know low emissions are better, and we should be continuing to invest in further science and research because that’s absolutely critical as we move forward”.
“If there is a scheme, it needs to be a voluntary scheme. That’s absolutely critical because there’s no point in culling numbers from an individual who has borrowed on the back of a huge financial commitment on the back of achieving a certain target that’s taken from under him,” McCormack added.
The plan hasn’t exactly convinced EU lawmakers, and many have expressed their disapproval concerning the legislation that would forcefully reduce food production
Proposals for mass cullings in the name of saving the environment have been in the pipeline for a while. In 2021, a report put forward the notion that in order to sufficiently reduce greenhouse gases, as many as 1.3 million cattle should be culled..
The Irish Ministry of Agriculture has compiled potential solutions for meeting climate targets and concluded that a 5,000-euros compensation per cow would be acceptable. The government’s Environmental Protection Agency produced a report in February this year, recommending a 30 per cent reduction in Irish cattle, which would equate to killing well over half a million cows.
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