Tillage Sector: Statements Dail Éireann — 2025-10-15 ============================================================ Malcolm Byrne (FF), Wicklow-Wexford I can, but I will not be able to do so in the time allowed. I welcome the debate. That the Minister and both Ministers of State from the Department are present speaks to a recognition of the seriousness of the challenge facing the tillage sector. I have raised this issue with the Minister on a number of occasions on the floor of the House and privately. I know he is aware of the challenge. Colleagues have outlined that in great detail. I want to specifically take on remarks by my Sinn Féin constituency colleague, who accused the Minister of not understanding agriculture. At the same time, he derided trade, attacked the European Union and engaged in anti-EU rhetoric that would not be out of place in the mouth of Nigel Farage of the Reform Party. It shows how Sinn Féin has failed to understand agriculture with its anti-trade and anti-EU policies, particularly now as so many in opposition have fallen into the vortex of People Before Profit manifesto policies. To deal specifically with the question of tillage, it is critical, particularly acting on budget issues, that the Minister engages with farm organisations such as the IFA and the Irish Grain Growers group and, as my colleague, Deputy Cleere, outlined, with younger farmers. I hope Macra na Feirme and tillage farmers involved in Macra na Feirme will also be at the table. As the Minister knows, winter crop is going in this week. The difficulty, unlike in many other sectors and businesses where farmers generally know what their input costs are, they do not know what prices they will get next year. If we are to look at a long-term strategy, we have to find a way to put an income floor in place for Irish growers and measures to guarantee family farms that they will be able to continue, that we will have a sustainable model for farmers and that we can meet our climate action plan target of 400,000 ha by 2030. Guaranteeing that economic floor is critical, perhaps by providing for a basic income for tillage farmers based on the model of the basic income for artists which the Government has continued to pursue. Our challenge, if we are to get to 400,000 ha, is that approximately 1,400 farmers have left tillage in the past three years. Many small tillage farmers left simply because of the lack of certainty. The Minister will discuss and negotiate with farm organisations and those who have skin in the game. I welcome that there will be a focus on smaller farmers. Some of the larger ones, because of economy of scale, will not be hit to the same extent. I share the view of colleagues that there has to be an urgency about this. Farmers are planting at the moment. They do not know what the situation will be next year. It is important that the Minister provides certainty in that regard as soon as possible. We also need to examine the broader sector and whether there is sufficient competition when it comes to the grain merchants to ensure there is domestic competition so that farmers get a reasonable price. I know the Minister has been in regular contact with Commissioner Hansen on his belief around generational renewal but sustaining the family farm is critical in terms of some of the CAP measures. I ask during the EU Presidency that the Minister ensures if we are to look at the sustainability of farms financially and environmentally, the family is at the heart of that. The Minister spoke a lot about new technology and how it can help. It will be critical in terms of investment. Artificial intelligence can be used for example to inform tillage farmers where to plant seeds and how to monitor soil quality. I commend the work of the Walton Institute in South East Technological University in this space. I welcome the Minister's commitment in his speech to new milling facilities. I will not repeat the comments that colleagues made about whiskey but the Minister will know we continue to import most flour. It is critical from a food security perspective as much as anything else that we develop flour-milling facilities on a commercial basis in Ireland. I raise again the proposal before the Minister from the Kavanagh brothers at Ballycarney, County Wexford. His Department has been very helpful on this. There is strong support from Enterprise Ireland for a capital support scheme. I raised it recently with the Minister, Deputy Burke, because this scheme is coming from the Department of enterprise. I ask the Minister, Deputy Heydon, to liaise with him to ensure this scheme is launched as soon as possible so we have the potential to get a commercial flour mill up and running in Ireland. Obviously, in north Wexford we hope the Kavanagh brothers would be successful in that proposal, but it will provide a market for our tillage farmers as well. The Minister recognises the importance of this crisis; it is also important that he recognise the urgency of it. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-10-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:13+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-10-15