The Junior Agriculture Minister says farmers need to be seen as part of the solution and not the problem to climate change.
Ireland is aiming to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by half over the next ten years, under ambitious new plans by the Climate Change Advisory Council.
The decrease would involve a reduction in farming livestock as beef and dairy cattle are among the biggest contributors to emissions.
Thousands of farmers took to the streets of Cork at the start of the month to highlight their concerns on the climate bill and how it will negatively impact on farmers and their livelihoods.
Junior Agriculture Minister Martin Heydon thinks there are other ways to cut emissions and says farmers need to stop being singled out.
"My Department's approach has been based on a roadmap that we published called 'Ag-Climatise", that's based on a stable herd.
"We believe that with present science and future science with a stable herd we can reduce emissions.
"Farmers are very much part of the solution and not the problem, if the only narrative that farmers are going to hear is that they are part of the problem you're very quickly going to lose the dressing room."
