Bríd Smith condemns dairy ad as greenwashing after Primetime expose

Minister, I do not know how you reacted to it, but certainly the bombardment on the TV in particular of the campaign by the National Dairy Council around World Dairy Day recently, I found it quite alarming. It was nothing other than a greenwashing exercise and quite alarming that it would portray the need for us all to consume more and more dairy because it is efficient, good for the planet, makes everybody look happy, clappy and green. and healthy. Can you please comment on this? Are you worried about it and has the government in any way funded any of this advertising? No, very much. Thanks for your question, Deputy B. Smith. The first point to make is that dairy and milk is a sustainable, safe and very nutritious food product. And how we produce it and deliver it here in Ireland is among the best in the world. And it is something that nutritionists are consistently, any time I listen to a nutritionist on TV or radio, are constantly advocating in relation to the nutritional benefits of milk as a food. So it is really important that milk and all the dairy products that come from it are produced. And we do that here in this country, thankfully, in a way that is better than is done anywhere in the world. And our farm families and right across the country do a tremendous job in relation to that. And long may it continue. And it is our objective to work to support them in continuing to do that. But also to ensure that it is done in a way that is really sustainable in relation to its emissions footprint and also in relation to how the production of that food, the production of that dairy intertwines with the environment around us. In relation to the National Dairy Council, as you know, it is a private farmer funded representative body. And it is approved as an aid applicant under the EU school milk scheme. And that is the only context in which my department provides funding, provides it with funding. The department has not made available any funds to the National Dairy Council for any advertising or promotional campaigns. If you, a deputy, and I would say to you, if you have any concerns about the veracity of claims made in advertising campaigns, you can always contact the National Advertising Standards Authority, and they will certainly consider it and fully assess any complaints that you might have. Funding then to Borbea is made annually by way of an exchequer grant from my department to fill its function to promote, assist and develop in the marketing of Irish food and drink. And Borbea promotes in the twin basis of quality and sustainability. And to be clear, very clear, Deputy Smith, Borbea is not spreading climate disinformation, quite the opposite. It is a fact that Ireland has a comparative advantage in grass-based livestock production and that our carbon footprint per unit of milk produced in this country is one of the lowest amongst milk-producing countries anywhere in the world, particularly coming and based on our grass-based system. I certainly will be making a complaint. I think it has already gone into the National Standards and Advertising, because this advertising of dairy and the manner in which it was done is absolute greenwashing. And it is kind of interesting that it coincidentally came in the same week that RTE did the expose of the level of cruelty to animals that takes place in that industry. The fact that every year they slaughter 35,000 male calves because they are absolutely useless and then those that are exported for the veal industry are treated like they were pieces of vermin. And I do not think anybody in the country that has a heart could not have been shocked by the level of cruelty and unnecessary cruelty that was seen on the RTE expose. And on the other hand, in the ad breaks, you get all this lovely happy-clappy image of how that industry conducts itself. And actually, what you just claimed about the industry being one of the healthiest in the world for the low level of emissions, the healthiest here in this country, is based on research that was conducted in 2004 and a report published in 2010. Now, if you have a much more up-to-date report, please share it, because as far as I can see, the only other reports that head towards refusing what you have just said come from the Environmental Protection Agency. Yes, listen, I mean, I absolutely agree with you, Deputy Smith, in relation to the scenes we saw on the Primetime Investigators' show last Monday night. Absolutely unacceptable, totally intolerable. And I have launched an investigation, and it will be robustly followed up. We cannot have any corner of our agri-food sector where those types of practices happen. And they are certainly not representative of what happens in farms across this country or in our food sector. But they did happen, and they can't be allowed to happen, and we are investigating that. And, listen, I mean, you know, there are lots of advertisements on television in relation to happy families, you know, but that's not to say that every family in our country is happy or that people always respect one another, otherwise we wouldn't need Gardaí or we wouldn't need Tusla. Likewise, in relation to the rules and regulations we have in relation to the treatment and welfare of our animals, we have very robust regulations in place to make sure that animals are treated with respect and welfare, but that doesn't mean that people can abuse that and not follow those laws. And we take an exceptionally hard line in relation to any mistreatment that happens there. And that will certainly be the case in relation to the Primetime Investigators programme and the show that happened this week as well. Well, I don't agree that we have very robust measures to prevent the cruelty to animals. If we had, we wouldn't have seen that report. And also, I think it's extremely cruel to slaughter the male-born calves. To separate them from their mothers at birth and then to slaughter so many of them is also an outcast of the industry itself and the fact that we are producing so much of a dairy herd and increasing our emissions from dairy year on year. And we will remind the House here that agriculture accounts for the most emissions, CO2 emissions, and we are not challenging at all trying to bring them down in terms of our environmental crisis. I do want to draw your attention to the EPA reports which show that the increase in the herd and the increase in milk production itself is a driver for the increase in emissions. There is no other way of getting around this but to acknowledge that that is happening. And that all of the cruelty and all of the related aspects of that go part and parcel and hand in glove with this industry and the way that it has been managed in this country. And I don't believe for a minute that there is no arm of the state in this country who did not know of the level of cruelty. They just turned a blind eye to it. Thank you. You are welcome. And Tara. I dispute your last point there entirely, Deputy Smith. There can be no place for the type of behaviour we saw in prime time. And I will not tolerate that as Minister for Agriculture nor indeed will anyone in this sector with responsibility. And we will clamp down it in every way we possibly can. Again, in relation to the – you made the point in relation to emissions. There is no doubt that we did, after the removal of quotas in 2015, we did see an increase in our dairy herd. That did lead to an increase in emissions. That increase had happened because it had been constrained since the early 80s when quotas were first introduced. That increase that happened then has plateaued now. We are seeing now stabilisation of the herd in the last two or three years. And the production of food does not have to be – mean that our emissions go up in the time ahead, Deputy Smith. The opposite, in fact. It is about decoupling the continuation of producing food with the emissions footprint of it. We have laid out – we just yesterday published the new CHUGUSC MAC curve in relation to how that can be stepped out between now and 2025. And farmers are more proactive in this regard than any sector of the economy, actually, in relation to taking the steps that are going to see our emissions footprint reduced. Thank you, Mr. Karmalkow. Thank you, Mr. Karmalkow. Thank you, Mr. Karmalkow. Thank you, Mr. Karmalkow. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Karmalkow. I NIH. Thank you, Mr.» Karmalkow, Iqbal flashes 19, US. The international throne and for the government commitment to us, reflect thoseen at Reimb Gramets ότι is aindeer of the whole doing time to fix the MMbu. blandПр 같습니다. For Progressive acknowledgement on behalf of the TTC Carter internal administration, she was determined to be the draped control of a DNR by a tsunami. Court that says this authority which would only be negotiated andated by the installed and�ish and to