The Rural Independent Group of TDs has launched a scathing attack on the government-funded Citizens Assembly on Biodiversity for their extremist, Green-rooted recommendations. If implemented, these proposals would decimate Irish farmers and rural communities by introducing new regulations and taxes and dictating what the Irish people can or should eat.
Reacting to the report on Biodiversity, Rural Independent Group leader Deputy Mattie Mc Grath stated:
“It is evident that this report has been heavily manipulated with predetermined outcomes to provide cover for Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, and the Green TDs to impose stringent net-zero policies that go against the interests of the Irish people. That is why we have consistently questioned the wasteful quango-style operation of the citizen assembly process, which is very expensive and is disguised as giving cover to government politicians. The latest report, comprising 159 recommendations, includes 17 relating to agriculture, and its proposals are not only extreme but also completely undermine Irish agriculture.”
“We are highly critical of the report for proposing sector-specific levies or taxes on exports and retail sales, phasing out farm subsidies for farmers already operating on very tight margins, and forcing people to consume plant-based diets. The report represents a nasty attack on rural communities and farmers across the country, recommending a nanny state where the government dictates what people can or cannot eat. Our view, having read through the report is that it is neither helpful nor based on science but rather based on shaky government science.”
“The Rural Independent Group firmly believe that the report fails to recognize that animal-based foods have been an essential part of the human diet for thousands of years. Proposals to eliminate animal foods would be as unrealistic as giving a tiger tofu and expecting it to be healthy.”
“Strikingly, the report conveniently ignored the latest scientific research published in the medical journal of cardiovascular diseases, which confirmed that eliminating animal products from the human diet could lead to nutritional deficiencies and a range of other health-related consequences. These deficiencies may be associated with increased risk for certain cancers, stroke, bone fractures, depression, and preterm births.”
Mc Grath concluded by stating that, “the government should not be allowed to dictate the foods people eat. Such a recommendation was captured by the government and a green utopia that is completely unobtainable and focused on putting more and more Irish farmers out of existence while choking the rural economy with more regulations and taxes. The Rural Independent Group vehemently opposes the recommendations contained in this one-sided report and stands with farmers and rural communities, imploring the government to realize that net-zero targets must be modified; otherwise, the ongoing agenda of more regulations and taxes will migrate from a bad situation to wipe-out for Irish farmers.”
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