Land Use Plan and National Soil Strategy

There are various commitments in the programme for Government on land use. For example, there is a commitment to the effect that:

Within 24 months, we will evaluate the potential for contributions towards our climate ambition from land-use improvements and set in train the development of a land-use plan, based on its findings.

There is also a commitment to:

A national land use review, including farmland, forests, and peatlands, so that optimal land use options inform all relevant government decisions.

There is a further commitment to:

Publish a National Soils Strategy that will assess all appropriate soil health parameters and will inform future policies on good soil-management practices.

We have issues around land use coming into sharp focus in terms of the potential fodder crisis resulting from the conflict in Ukraine and the stark recommendations on land use in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. I am also aware of the European Commission regulation on nature restoration coming down the tracks. Where stands the work on our land-use plan?

Deputy Michael McGrath

The Deputy raised a number of issues about land use, which is central to farming, rural Ireland, biodiversity, protection of the environment and the future of energy. The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Senator Hackett, is leading a substantive body of work on behalf of the Government on the land-use strategy. I will ask her to revert to the Deputy directly.