Ibec

Background

Ibec is Ireland’s largest business organisation and lobby group, representing multiple industry trade associations including the agri-food sector.¹ Ibec was formed in 1993 in a merger of groups representing Irish employers.²

Headquartered in Dublin, Ibec employed 279 staff across six offices in Ireland between 2022 and 2023.³ Its turnover in 2022 came to €40.8 million.⁴ The organisation also has an office in Brussels, Ibec Europe, home to Ibec’s EU lobbying and liaison team.⁵

Ibec affiliates Dairy Industry Ireland (DII) and Meat Industry Ireland (MII) represent Ireland’s milk and meat processors and exporters respectively.⁶

Ibec is the most active lobbyist in Ireland’s lobbying register across all policy areas. It’s the third most active on agriculture, food and the environment.⁷

Lobbying data for 2021 and 2022 indicates that Ibec spends about 1.5 million euros a year to lobby in the EU on behalf of Irish business, including agri-food interests.⁸

Through Ibec, DII and MII have lobbied Ireland’s parliament to retain Ireland’s EU Nitrates Directive derogation, which allows selected Irish farmers to spread nitrates in amounts that exceed the Directive’s limits on nitrate water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.⁹ (For more detail, see DeSmog’s background note on the EU Nitrates Directive).

The livestock sector accounts for 38 percent of Ireland’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 99 percent of its ammonia air pollution, while nitrate and phosphate nutrient losses from the livestock sector are the largest contributor to water body pollution.¹⁰ (For more detail on pollution, see DeSmog’s background note Climate, air and water pollution from intensive agriculture).

Ibec enjoys significant access to the Irish Government. Ministers attended in-person meetings of Ibec’s Energy & Climate Policy Committee – a forum for Ibec members to “develop shared positions on policy and regulatory proposals” related to climate and energy¹¹ – in both 2018¹² and 2024.¹³

Ibec has been regularly accused of acting to delay climate action, for example in 2011,¹⁴ 2018¹⁵ and 2024.¹⁶ A June 2024 book chapter on climate obstruction in Ireland noted Ibec was the most active lobbyist on topics including the keyword “climate”.¹⁷

Stance on Climate Change

Ibec has expressed its support for climate action. In a 2024 campaign titled “Stronger Europe, Stronger Ireland”, Ibec said Irish business was “committed to the European Green Deal’s central tenet for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent in 2050” and expressed its support for a 55 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.¹⁸

However, in the same campaign Ibec also stressed that “if these targets are to be retained, Member States and obligated parties [companies] will need to retain existing flexibilities to deliver these in a cost-effective way”.

In 2023, Ibec launched a resource titled “Climate Action: A toolkit for business”, in which it stated that it would provide businesses with “the information they need for their climate action journey” and “practical guidance on how to develop an enduring climate action strategy”.¹⁹

The toolkit stated that climate action is a “business imperative”. It noted that the only solution to climate change is a “dramatic reduction in GHG emissions”, along with the difficulty of reducing methane emissions from cattle digestion. The document also encouraged companies to commit to plans for absolute reductions to emissions, or to “emissions intensity” (ie. producing fewer emissions per kilo or milk or meat)

However, the Ibec resource fell short of the stipulations of Ireland’s 2021 Climate Action Plan (CAP21). The toolkit suggested “alignment with national sectoral ceilings and Paris Agreement goals” was an “additional consideration”, but CAP21 requires national climate action to be “consistent with” meeting both the Paris Agreement goal to keep warming within 1.5C, and sectoral emission ceilings, a term for the maximum tonnes of CO2 equivalent gases (CO2e) that can be emitted over a five year period by agriculture and different sectors of the economy, as laid out by the Irish government’s legally binding carbon budgets.²⁰

In 2018, environmental group An Taisce accused Ibec of “misrepresenting academic energy and climate research” to the Oireachtas (Parliamentary) Committee when Ibec opposed an amendment to the Climate Emergency Measures Bill 2018, which would have prohibited further oil and gas exploration in Irish waters.²¹

The NGO claimed that Ibec’s position paper “advocates against and delays climate action, misdirecting efforts into continued further fossil carbon extraction and away from low carbon”.

Dairy Industry Ireland (DII)

Dairy Industry Ireland (DII) is the Ibec-affiliated trade association for dairy processors.

DII appeared at the parliamentary agriculture committee to lobby against the loss of the nitrates derogation, a licence to spread more organic nitrogen per hectare on land than is routinely permitted under the EU Nitrates Directive.²² (For more detail, see DeSmog’s background note on the EU Nitrates Directive).

The DII has stressed that the Irish government must fund farmers to meet climate targets. Responding to the publication of the Irish government’s 2023 Climate Action Plan – which included emissions reduction goals for agriculture – DII director Conor Mulvihill told the Irish Farmers Journal that “clear funding and policy mechanisms to help farmers and the processing industry meet these targets must be set out urgently by Government”.²³

However, despite EU and Irish funding and policy tools being available to the agricultural sector for the past 15 years, Ireland’s 2020 EU emission sharing target was missed, due in part to rising emissions from dairy farming.²⁴

A 2020 academic assessment stated that Ireland’s “policies are focused more on economic growth than on addressing growing income disparities at the farm level, or their social and environmental impacts.²⁵

In order for Ireland to meet its climate targets, and align with the global 1.5ºC target, it must make a significant cut to its agricultural emissions, particularly methane and nitrous oxide.²⁶ Inventory data for 2022 from Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that agriculture emitted 94 percent of the country’s methane and 93 percent of nitrous oxide.²⁷ Ruminants emit 97 percent of agricultural methane, of which 35 percent is released by dairy cows.

Since 2010, dairy-cow methane has risen by 63 percent. But a recent report commissioned by DII suggests the dairy industry can continue to grow, “even with the requirement to achieve a 25 percent emissions reduction from agriculture”.²⁸

The 2023 report, undertaken by business consultancy EY (previously Ernst & Young), indicated that the dairy sector would grow with a “compounded annual growth rate” (CAGR) of 0.6 percent by 2030.

Irish processors were forecasting a five percent increase in milk volumes between 2022 and 2030, from 8.8 billion litres in 2022 to 9.2 billion by 2030, according to the report for DII.²⁹

The report also calculated a positive impact on the national economy (based on “the sum of the direct, indirect, and induced impacts”).

However, the report’s methodology did not quantify any negative (direct, indirect and induced) impacts on the economy, society or the environment caused by high levels of emissions or nitrates pollution.

Direct financial risks that were not considered by the report’s methodology include the risk of “at least” €8.2 billion in climate fines if Ireland misses its 2030 targets, according to the Chair of the Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC).³⁰

The consultants also effectively assumed a “zero pollution cost” of dairy expansion. While no current regulations penalise the industry’s greenhouse gas, ammonia or nutrient pollution, a 2019 journal paper estimated a pollution cost of €4.02 per kg nitrogen loss for Irish dairy production, which equates to an estimated total pollution cost of €694 million in 2022. However these costs were not included in the study.

In November 2023, it was reported that Dairy Industry Ireland was planning to commission EY to carry out an economic impact assessment into how tighter restrictions of nitrate pollution would affect the dairy industry.³¹ According to the Irish Farmers Journal, “DII director Conor Mulvihill said that the government had signed off on a major policy change without any apparent understanding of the consequences of that decision”. As of September 2024, the report was unpublished.

In August 2024, an Ibec-sponsored article in the Irish Times claimed that further growth in the dairy industry was “necessary” and could be achieved while meeting the sector’s commitments to reduce emissions and pollution.

In the article, Ibec highlighted a 4.6 percent reduction in agricultural annual emissions in 2023 as “impressive”, suggesting effective industry climate action had cut emissions while maintaining production.

However, industry press reported that this was not the case: in fact farmers had reduced emissions and production that year, in response to high fertiliser costs relative to milk prices, poor weather, and nitrates regulation uncertainty.³²

Meat Industry Ireland (MII)

Meat Industry Ireland (MII) is the Ibec-affiliated trade association for meat processors.

MII states that its members “fully accept the challenge of climate change and the need for increased action to minimise the impact of meat production on natural resources, to reduce GHG emissions and to protect our natural environment for future generations”.³³

In 2022 beef cattle emitted around half of Ireland’s agricultural methane according to inventory data from Ireland’s EPA.

Meat Industry Ireland “accepted that agriculture does account for a sizable portion of Ireland’s overall emissions” in a 2019 statement to the parliamentary Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine (agriculture sector emissions made up 38 percent of the national total in 2023).³⁴

However, the group also contended that “it would be counter-productive to curtail beef production in regions of the world, such as Ireland, that are eco-efficient producers, to instead allow for expansion in less environmentally efficient areas”.³⁵

The same claims were made in 2015 by former Meat Industry Ireland director Cormac Healy, in The Irish Examiner. He wrote that it would be “foolhardy” for Ireland to reduce its beef output, as it would lead to carbon leakage, ie. production shifting to other countries with more lax emission constraints.³⁶

A 2024 research paper said “vague assertions” around efficiency commonly used by industry lacked “quantitative or regulatory substance”. It added: “…if anything, carbon leakage has likely been more toward Ireland (as agriculture has consistently ignored agreed emissions goals), not away from Ireland to other nations.”³⁷ [emphasis added]

A 2021 fact sheet from MII, titled “Sustainable Irish Beef”, included the claim that Ireland’s low carbon footprint “makes it one of the top five most carbon efficient beef producers in the EU”.

The claim is based on a 2010 EU Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) report,³⁸ which was described in The Irish Times in 2020 by a JRC project officer as outdated.³⁹ They added that measurements in the study relating to “permanent grassland sequestration” are not included in current IPCC standards, stating: “It is reasonable to consider this assumption as obsolete, which would considerably lower the comparative advantage of Ireland’s beef and milk production.”

Other research suggests Irish beef and milk production is not particularly carbon efficient relative to other EU nations. A 2011 peer-reviewed study found Ireland’s beef carbon footprint to be substantially higher than the EU average,⁴⁰ while results calculated using the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s GLEAM methodology showed Irish emissions to be some of the highest in Europe.

Opposition to reduction in herd sizes

Meat Industry Ireland members opposed the inclusion of two measures to reduce beef suckler cow numbers, which were included in the August 2021 release of the government’s Food Vision 2030 strategy for the agri-food sector.⁴¹

A Beef and Sheep stakeholder group, which was consulted by the Minister of Agriculture on the strategy, published a response in November 2022 which stated that MII members opposed reductions on the grounds that “their inclusion will significantly undermine the industry” and “would lead to an annual loss of output and revenue with a resultant impact on the rural economy”.⁴²

Meat Industry Ireland suggested that government proposals to spend money on reducing the suckler herd would be better spent on technical measures to reduce emissions, as well as funding farmers to incentivise uptake of the measures.

However, since 2010 such suckler herd measures have been advocated by Teagasc and supported by government, yet methane emissions and nitrogen-excretion from beef cattle have remained approximately stable, according to data from the EPA, suggesting minimal effect.

Ibec, DII and MII – Key Actions

September 2024

Dairy Industry Ireland (DII) and Meat Industry Ireland (MII) were among six groups that launched a coordinated lobbying push to retain the country’s nitrates derogation ahead of an EU Commission visit to Ireland, on September 16, 2024.⁴³

In a “Joint Declaration from Farm Organisations, Co-operatives and the Dairy and Meat Processors” the groups argued that the removal of the derogation would have “widespread negative economic consequences for Ireland’s rural economy” and that there would be a ”time lag” before actions to improve water quality would be seen “on the ground”.⁴⁴

The statement⁴⁵ and associated document,⁴⁶ which was supported by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), and Macra, did not appear to address concerns about the negative impact on water and air caused by nitrate and phosphate losses from the livestock sector, which are the largest contributor to water body pollution in Ireland.⁴⁷

Ireland’s nitrates derogation allows recipient farms to spread more nitrates than is normally allowed under the EU Nitrates Directive, subject to specific environmental checks. It is one of just five EU member states to have recently held derogations from the directive. (For more detail, see DeSmog’s background note on the EU Nitrates Directive).

Belgium (Flanders region), Denmark, and the Netherlands have indicated they will not be renewing their derogations, potentially leaving Ireland as the only EU member state to seek a derogation from 2026 onward.⁴⁸

October 2023

Ibec CEO Danny McCoy attended a Dublin Climate Summit.⁴⁹

Speaking at the conference, McCoy criticised the language used by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in calling for climate action. He said: “Increasingly, we get sloganeering, including coming from an august official holder like the secretary general of the United Nations, which tells us we’re at boiling point.”⁵⁰

McCoy said that most companies “wouldn’t know carbon if they fell over it” and that “‘just transition’ is another slogan. The hard yards are actually identifying what needs to be done”.

June 2020

A Business Post article reported Ibec CEO Danny McCoy as saying that “banning further oil and gas exploration is ‘nonsensical’, and that People Before Profit TD [member of the Irish parliament] Brid Smith’s Climate Emergency Bill is ‘moronic’”.⁵¹

The article also reported that two Ibec representatives had led lobbying activities targeted at six TDs, senior officials at the Department of Climate Action and Environment, and Sean Kyne, a former minister of state.

February 2020

Dairy Industry Ireland director Conor Mulvill described as “brilliant” controversial agricultural scientist Frank Mitloehner,⁵² an outspoken ally of the meat sector, who has repeatedly endorsed industry initiatives to cut emissions through voluntary efficiency measures.⁵³

Mulvill also appeared to distance himself from Mitloehner’s research, however, saying “we can’t just pick the science that suits us”.

July 2019

Ibec and the Irish Offshore Operators’ Association (IOOA), a trade group representing oil and gas exploration interests, welcomed a decision by the Irish government to block any progression of the Climate Emergency Measures Bill, which would have effectively ended future oil and gas production in Ireland.⁵⁴

Richard Bruton, Ireland’s climate action minister at the time, said the government was blocking the bill due to “financial implications of the proposal” and a failure to “consider its wider implications on Ireland’s energy policy and security”.⁵⁵

2018

Ibec opposed the proposed Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018, which would have required regard be paid to “national and global environmental considerations”, including climate impacts, when issuing licences, undertakings and leases.⁵⁶

In a written statement in July 2018, Ibec said that the organisation and its members were supportive of decarbonisation and “fully committed to combating climate change and the delivery of a low carbon economy by the year 2050”. However, the group added:

“…it is our view that the Bill being discussed today will not support these efforts as it will have no impact whatsoever on Ireland’s future consumption levels of oil or natural gas. Instead it may serve as a distraction from the huge challenge of reducing Ireland’s fossil fuel consumption. We are also deeply concerned that this Bill will undermine national energy security.”⁵⁷

Irish environmental charity An Taisce strongly criticised Ibec’s views regarding the 2018 Bill, writing that Ibec did not adequately communicate the urgency for Paris Agreement-aligned climate action.⁵⁸

2010 – 2011

Ibec was one of the groups, along with the Irish Farmers Association and the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, which successfully lobbied to have the Irish government drop the 2010 Climate Change Response bill. It was strongly opposed by Ibec on the grounds the bill would “damage business”.⁵⁹

A subsequent academic study noted that the 2010 bill had included emission reduction targets “despite intensive lobbying from the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and other business interests”.⁶⁰

In a briefing outlining the bill and its opponents’ views, Friends of the Earth Ireland (FOEI) stated that the bill’s targets were inadequate, particularly as it had been “diluted during drafting by vested interests”.⁶¹

FOEI directly criticised Ibec for maintaining that the 2020 target in the bill was “more demanding than Ireland’s EU target”, which FOEI said was incorrect. An analysis in January 2011 by Oisin Coghlan of FOEI described Ibec’s position on the bill as “at least presumptive, if not also a little disingenuous”.⁶²

By February 2011, the bill had been dropped. Commenting on the bill’s failure, environmental NGOs noted the impact of opposition by business and agri-food sector lobbyists, and an apparent political bias in their favour.⁶³

Funding

Ibec’s 2022 income statement listed “subscriptions” of €33.3 million as its primary source of funds, with €2.9 million coming from “training” and €4.6 million from “other”. The total turnover for the year came to €40.8 million. Breakdowns were not provided for individual members’ associations.⁶⁴

Dairy Industry Ireland lists 17 member companies from the “Irish primary processing industry”,⁶⁵ while Meat Industry Ireland lists 14, accounting “for the majority of primary beef, sheepmeat, and pigmeat production in Ireland”.⁶⁶

Lobbying

Ibec is a registered lobbying organisation in Ireland.⁶⁷ A search of Lobbying.ie, the official register of lobbying records, shows Ibec submitted 3,978 lobbying returns to the Irish regulator between January 2015 and August 2024, the highest total of any single lobbying organisation.⁶⁸

Ibec is Ireland’s third most active lobbyist on agriculture, food and the environment.⁶⁹ A total of 8,148 lobbying such returns were recorded since January 2015, of which Ibec submitted 625 (eight percent of the total).

Lobbying data for 2021 and 2022 indicates that Ibec spends about 1.5 million euros per year to lobby in the EU on behalf of Irish business, including agri-food interests, employing the equivalent of 10.9 full time lobbyists.⁷⁰

Affiliations

Ibec Europe, Ibec’s Brussels-based lobbying team, notes its “active membership” of the Confederation of European Business (BusinessEurope), through which it “collaborates closely with 40 of our counterparts from 35 countries in advancing a competitive and pro-growth agenda for Europe”.⁷¹

Ibec affiliate Dairy Industry Ireland states that it “contributes to the competitiveness of the Irish dairy industry” through its membership of a network of trade associations including the European Dairy Association (EDA), Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE), the International Special Dietary Foods Industries (ISDI) and the International Dairy Federation (IDF).⁷²

Dairy Industry Ireland is a member of the promotional initiative Meat & Dairy Facts, referred to on its website as the “National Meat & Dairy Facts Alliance”.⁷³

Meat Industry Ireland is also a member of the European Livestock and Meat Trades Union (UECBV). Ireland’s state agency Bord Bia (the Irish Food Board) is the only other Irish affiliate.⁷⁴ It is also a member of the Liaison Centre for the Meat Processing Industry (CLITRAVI), a European group lobbying on behalf of the meat industry.⁷⁵

Resources

1
“About us,” Ibec, 2024. Archived February 2, 2024 Archive URL: https://archive.is/NkrAX
2
Emmet O’Connor, 2002. “Ireland in Historical Perspective: The Legacies of Colonialism — Edging Towards Policy Concertation.”, in: Policy Concertation and Social Partnership in Western Europe: Lessons for the Twenty-First Century – Edited by Stefan Berger and Hugh Compston. 2002. Berghahn Books. Archived August 6, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Kp5nL
3
“Ibec Annual Report 2022-2023,” Ibec, October 5, 2023. Archived June 23, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
4
“Ibec Annual Report 2022-2023,” Ibec, October 5, 2023. Archived February 21, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
5
“Where we operate,” IBEC, Archived July 14, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/QP6yP
6
“About us,” Ibec, 2024. Archived February 2, 2024 Archive URL: https://archive.is/NkrAX
7
“Ireland lobbying | Search all records since 2015.” Lobbying.ie. August 7, 2024. Archived August 7, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/MSVXQ
8
“Ibec | lobbyfacts.” Lobbyfacts.eu. March, 2024. Archived August 6, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/4AUBu
9
“Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed),” Joint Committee on Agriculture, May 29, 2024. Archived June 20, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/RZNCn
10
“Ireland’s Provisional Greenhouse Gas Emissions 1990-2023 [landing page],” EPA. July 2024. Archived July 9, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/kf3rB
11
“Energy, Environment & Transport,” Ibec. Archived June 23, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/1eGvo
12
“Minister Naughten’s address to Ibec Energy and Climate Policy Committee,” Merrion Street, May 24, 2018. Archived May 28, 2018. Archive URL: https://archive.is/ApuO4
13
Ibec. “Earlier this morning, Minister @SimonCoveney attended #Ibec’s Energy and Climate Policy Committee. #Members in attendance also discussed need to address ongoing delays to the planning and roll out of vital energy infrastructure. #energy #decarbonisation #infrastructure,” X post by user @Ibec_irl, January 24, 2024. Archived February 21, 2018, Archive URL: https://archive.is/xr5q4
14
Tara Connolly. “A Climate Bill Post-Mortem.” ThinkOrSwim.ie. February 11, 2011. Achieved August 6, 2016. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/42R3L
15
“An Taisce questions Irish Business and Employers Confederation’s presentation to Oireachtas Committee.” An Taisce – The National Trust For Ireland. July 3, 2018. Archived December 6, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/TfzzO
16
Cian Ginty, 2024. “Ibec heavily criticised for “last-minute interference” in traffic plan aimed at boosting public transport, accelerating climate action.” IrishCycle.com. May 23, 2024. Archived May 25, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/9t6pb
17
Orla Kelly, Brenda McNally, and Jennie C. Stephens. “Climate Obstruction in Ireland: The Contested Transformation of an Agricultural Economy.” In: Climate Obstruction across Europe. Edited by: Robert J. Brulle, J. Timmons Roberts and Miranda C. Spencer, Oxford University Press. June 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197762042.003.0004
18
“Stronger Europe Stronger Ireland,” Ibec, May 2024. Archived June 12, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
19
“Ibec Annual Report 2022-2023,” Ibec, October 5, 2023. Archived June 23, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
20
“Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (amendment) Act 2021 (as Approved),” Government of Ireland, 2021. Archived January 22, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.is/ScDtZ
21
“An Taisce questions Irish Business and Employers Confederation’s presentation to Oireachtas Committee,” An Taisce, 2018. Archived December 6, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/TfzzO
22
“Compliance with the Nitrates Directive and Implications for Ireland: Discussion (Resumed),” Oireachtas, 29 May 2024. Archived June 20, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/RZNCn
23
Noel Bardon. “Government must support dairy sector’s climate challenge – DII,” Irish Farmers Journal, December 22, 2022. Archived February 27, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/WyWvm
24
Price, P. R. “Agricultural Methane in Irish Climate Action: greenhouse gas metrics, methane mitigation, and related quantification of livestock numbers.” Legacy4LIFE Programme, Task 2.2 Report. May 2024. Archived June 18, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
25
Sabrina Dekker and Diarmuid Torney. “Evaluation of climate change mitigation policies in Ireland’s agriculture, forestry and land use sector.” Dublin City University, 2020. June 24, 2024. Archived June 24, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5aQNS
26
Barry McMullin, Paul R Price and Aideen O’Dochartaigh. “Defining a ‘Paris Test’ of national contribution to global climate mitigation: the Irish exemplar.” Environ. Res. Lett. 19, 041006. April 2024.
27
“Ireland’s National Inventory Report 2024.” EPA, 2024. Archived April 19, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wyXXj
28
Phelim O’Neill. “Dairy Industry to commission impact assessment,” Irish Farmers Journal, November 29, 2023. Archived February 27, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/1fKhy
29
“Analysing the economic contribution of the dairy processing industry to the Irish economy and the processor’s forecasts to 2030,” EY (Ernst and Young) report, October 23, 2023, for Milk Industries Ireland, published by Ibec. Archived August 8, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
30
Daniel Murray. “Ireland facing ‘at least’ €8.2bn in climate fines if it misses 2030 targets,” Business Post, August 18, 2024. Archived August 18, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ZC8lE
31
Phelim O’Neill. “Dairy Industry to commission impact assessment,” Irish Farmers Journal, November 29, 2023. Archived February 27, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/1fKhy
32
Ruud Peys, 2024. “Irish milk production is in sharp decline.” Dairy Global. January 30, 2024. Archived February 27, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XIyXB
33
“Climate Change MII presentation to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine,” February 20, 2018. Archived June 20, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/ux9qO
34
“Ireland’s Provisional Greenhouse Gas Emissions 1990-2023 [web page],” EPA. July 2024. Archived July 9, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/kf3rB
35
“The Future of the Beef Sector in Ireland MII Submission to the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food & the Marine,” Meat Industry Ireland, March 25, 2019. Archived July 24, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/wJuG1
36
Joe Dermody. “Meat sector says Ireland is top performer on climate change,” Irish Examiner, December 7, 2015. Archived February 22, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/PbBrL
37
Price, P. R. “Agricultural Methane in Irish Climate Action: greenhouse gas metrics, methane mitigation, and related quantification of livestock numbers,” Legacy4LIFE Programme, Task 2.2 Report. May 2024. Archived June 18, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
38
A. Leip et al. “Evaluation of the livestock sector’s contribution to the EU greenhouse gas emissions,” Joint Research Centre, 2010. Archived March 29, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.is/Knofk
39
Sophie Kevany. “Where’s the beef? Outdated data leads to uncertainty on way forward,” The Irish Times, May 28, 2020. Archived April 22, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/nA5gN
40
Lesschen, J.P et al. “Greenhouse gas emission profiles of European livestock sectors. Animal Feed Science and Technology,” Special Issue: Greenhouse Gases in Animal Agriculture – Finding a Balance between Food and Emissions 166–167, 16–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2011.04.058
41
“Launch of ‘Food Vision 2030 – A World Leader in Sustainable Food Systems’,” Merrion Street, August 4, 2021. Archived October 22, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.is/ts0HL
42
“Final Report on the Food Vision Beef & Sheep Group to Mitigate GHG emissions from the Beef Sector,” Government of Ireland, November 30, 2022. Archived March 15, 2023. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
43
“Retaining Ireland’s Nitrates Derogation – Common Objectives – A Joint Declaration from Farm Organisations, Co-operatives and the Dairy and Meat Processors,” Irish Farmers Association, September 16, 2024. Archived September 18, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wJpIQ
44
“Retaining Ireland’s Nitrates Derogation – Common Objectives: A Joint Declaration from Farm Organisations, Co-operatives and the Dairy and Meat Processors,” Irish Farmers Association, Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), Dairy Industry Ireland, Meat Industry Ireland, Macra. Archived September 23, 2024. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
45
“Retaining Ireland’s Nitrates Derogation – Common Objectives – A Joint Declaration from Farm Organisations, Co-operatives and the Dairy and Meat Processors,” Irish Farmers Association, September 16, 2024. Archived September 18, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wJpIQ
46
“Retaining Ireland’s Nitrates Derogation – Common Objectives: A Joint Declaration from Farm Organisations, Co-operatives and the Dairy and Meat Processors,” Irish Farmers Association, Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), Irish Co-operative Organisation Society (ICOS), Dairy Industry Ireland, Meat Industry Ireland, Macra. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
47
“Ireland’s Provisional Greenhouse Gas Emissions 1990-2023 [landing page],” EPA. July 2024. Archived July 9, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/kf3rB
48
Amy Forde. “Why Denmark won’t be renewing its nitrates derogation,” Irish Farmers Journal, April 18, 2024. Archived April 18, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/SVEtR
49
Caroline O’Doherty, “‘Just transition is another slogan’ – Business lobby head says firms talk climate action without knowing what it means,” Irish Independent, October 26, 2023. Archived September 25, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/icnlK
50
Caroline O’Doherty. “‘Just transition is another slogan’ – Business lobby head says firms talk climate action without knowing what it means,” Irish Independent, October 26, 2023. Archived October 30, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.is/icnlK
51
Daniel Murray. “Ibec chief McCoy slams climate bill as ‘moronic’,” Business Post, June 2, 2019. Archived September 17, 2019. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/RMKzZ
52
Emma Gilsenan. “Dr. Frank Mitloehner’s comments are not “a silver bullet” for agriculture,” Agriland.ie, Archived December 18, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/sQJqj
53
Michaela Herrmann. “The Rise of the ‘Climate Friendly’ Cow,” DeSmog, April 26, 2023. Archived April 26, 2023. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5Zrxr
54
Amanda Slevin. “Climate change, Ireland, and the Climate Emergency Measures Bill,” Queen’s University Belfast, July 23, 2018. Archived February 5, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.is/0MPdJ
55
Conor McCrave. “Decision to halt Climate Emergency Bill described as “utter hypocrisy” on side of the Government,” The Journal, July 5, 2019. Archived July 5, 2019. Archive URL: https://archive.is/SHXvl
56
“Petroleum and Other Minerals Development (Amendment) (Climate Emergency Measures) Bill 2018,” Houses of the Oireachtas, 2018. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/akORA
57
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Background

Stance on Climate Change

Dairy Industry Ireland (DII)

Meat Industry Ireland (MII)

Ibec, DII and MII – Key Actions

Funding

Lobbying

Affiliations

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Related Profiles

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Ibec

Background

Stance on Climate Change

Dairy Industry Ireland (DII)

<img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfscuuLZm27oQVTc2T6qNeM_sT9o_C-d63FvWSziQDRC7zwB-UmmswebQjslj240PX9T7T_AQ6bUB9Sk4ZeS1i5ed0TmNAQc3x3iEtPLrCPc_ipd4EhAw4HdX7IczY6xryVnIEScSaa5MAyN3kLFnbe6old?key=l1uaCl41OL3Rbu61X2_lYg" width="237" height="213.00039072215046">

Meat Industry Ireland (MII)

Ibec, DII and MII – Key Actions

Funding

Lobbying

Affiliations

Resources

Related Profiles

Red Flag Consulting

Hume Brophy

Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA)

DeSmog

DeSmog

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