Farmers are being 'unfairly made culprits' for carbon emissions 

The farming community is being unfairly made the “culprits” when it comes to climate change, according to a Mayo councillor.

Fianna Fáil’s Martin McLoughlin made his comments at a recent meeting of the Economic Development, Enterprise Support, Planning and Marine, as councillors discussed the ‘Sustainable Residential Development and Compact Settlements, Guidelines for Planning Authorities’. The guidelines set national planning policy and guidance in relation to the planning and development of urban and rural settlements, with a focus on sustainable residential development and the creation of compact settlements.

Cllr Al McDonnell called the document “damning” and said the guidelines were “anti-rural”.

“If I wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable,” said Cllr McDonnell who highlighted one of the priorities that states that dispersed settlement patterns, i.e. rural areas, create the demand and reliance on carbon-intensive private car travel and long commutes which affects the quality of life for people there. It also says that it accelerates environmental degradation through the loss of farmland, habitats and water quality. He says it shows the State is trying to push everyone out of rural areas.

Cllr McLoughlin heavily criticised the guidelines. 

“It shows the way the civil servants and bureaucrats think of us, the fact that document is out there. Farmers are being made culprits all the time when it comes to carbon emissions. The farming community has made the most change out of any group to adapt to climate change guidelines.”