Pat McCormack, president of The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), has commented on the “brazen double-standard at play in Ireland’s emissions debate”. There is, he says, a “deafening silence” when it comes to aviation emissions in comparison to the fixation on farming.
Mr McCormack added that the silence was “even more deafening when contrasted with the non-stop hectoring and criticism directed at farming in general and dairy farming, in particular”, and called on the Irish government to “usefully reflect on which activity was more essential to our future: producing food or air travel for leisure”.
The ICMSA president highlighted a Ryanair announcement made on 25 July, 2022, of a €170 million profit in the quarter between April and June. This was due to a passenger volume 9% higher than pre-Covid-19 levels in 2019. McCormack aptly pointed out the “casual attitude” adopted to emissions from the aviation industry and that not a word of concern had been voiced about increased passenger numbers.
“At the same time, politicians are apparently locked in intensive debate about whether we go past the just about do-able 22% cut in agri-emissions and go into the impossible and completely destructive rates beyond that,” he said.
He concluded saying: “I’ve a question for everyone – is food as important as air travel? Because if it is then we would want to start making policy and setting targets on that basis.”