EUROPEAN DIARY:In a clear victory for the farm lobby, the prospect of a livestock levy is dead in the water, writes JAMIE SMYTH
IF YOU want to get ahead in politics, don’t mess with the farm lobby. That is the golden rule that Taoiseach Brian Cowen broke last May when he prevaricated over whether to give the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) a cast-iron guarantee he would veto any unfavourable World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal.
The result was thousands of farmers standing in front of Leinster House waving “Stop Mandelson’s WTO sell-out” placards and a resounding No vote in the first Lisbon Treaty referendum from rural constituencies.
So when I obtained a stack of memos and reports from the Department of Environment last week under the Freedom of Information Act, I was intrigued to read that an adviser to Minister for Environment John Gormley had recommended the introduction of a livestock levy. Such a levy, colloquially known as a “cow tax”, could be imposed on farmers or end consumers of beef and dairy products to raise money to deal with the greenhouse gases produced by livestock when they burp and fart after eating grass.
The adviser recommended the levy was the best way to ensure the “polluter pays” principle was followed in dealing with agriculture emissions and was a better alternative to reducing the seven-million-strong national herd. The revenue could be used to pay for emission reduction efforts in other parts of the economy, or for research on cutting farm emissions.
The reasoning behind the official’s recommendation seems logical. Ireland faces stringent EU targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels.
Agriculture emissions make up 26 per cent of Irish greenhouse gas emissions and about half of these are related to flatulent livestock. Methane, the greenhouse gas produced by livestock, is 20 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide, so there should be an incentive for farmers to reduce the amount of gas produced. If the agriculture sector does not cut its emissions, road users and householders will have to pay more to make up the difference. Environmental groups have been lobbying for a livestock levy for some time. “A methane tax is not only a good idea, it’s one that’s well overdue,” says Pat Finnegan of Irish climate group Grian. He says Grian first recommended such a tax to the government in 1998, and that the “polluter pays” principle is already enshrined in European law. Given the poor state of the exchequer’s finances, previously mundane concepts such as the “polluter pays” principle will move centre stage for the public this year as the Government introduces its first carbon taxes on petrol and diesel.
But judging from the hostile reaction from politicians to my article last week about a possible cow tax, farmers can rest assured they will escape any livestock levy in the near future, at least.
Within hours of The Irish Times hitting the streets, Gormley’s press adviser was on the phone attacking the cow tax article as sensationalist and something that was not going to happen. So is the Green Party going soft on the “polluter pays” principle? A day later, the European Commission, which since the first Lisbon referendum has developed a paranoia about the farm lobby that knows no bounds, issued a press release stating there was no suggestion from the commission of introducing such a tax in Ireland.
“To suggest otherwise is to deliberately mislead the public. Let me repeat, this story is unfounded and untrue,” said Martin Territt, director of the commission’s Irish office.
The story never said Europe was introducing a cow tax; rather it mentioned that the Government had been told by an adviser to consider it as a way of meeting EU targets.
Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith finally weighed into the debate, saying: “It is not a proposal that would be considered under any circumstances by this Government.” In other words, the prospect of a livestock levy is dead in the water and farmers will have little incentive to try to cut emissions from their cattle – a clear victory for the farm lobby.
But it would be unfair to single out the Irish farm lobby without mentioning the Danish farm lobby, which recently defeated the bean counters in the Danish tax commission. In February, the commission recommended that a cow tax should be imposed because a cow emits four tonnes of methane a year in burps and farts, compared with 2.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide for an average car. It suggested a figure as high as €80 per animal, compared to the much lower €13 suggested by the Irish adviser.
Unsurprisingly, the commission’s livestock levy proposal died in the Danish parliament earlier this month, with politicians wary of picking a fight with the politically influential farm lobby.
But the prize for the most aggressive lobbying by a farm lobby goes to the American Farm Bureau Federation, which last week celebrated the efforts of US senators John Thune and Charles Schumer for proposing an “anti-cow tax” Bill. This legislation would prevent livestock being included in any future emissions reduction efforts in the US. Perhaps the IFA should take note and start lobbying now.
The advice given to Minister for the Environment John Gormley is available at www.irishtimes.com