Tillage Sector: Statements
Dail Éireann — 2025-10-15
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Paul Lawless (AON), Mayo

I welcome the opportunity to contribute. I recently met Irish Grain Growers and Tillage Industry Ireland. As Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned, the tillage sector is fundamentally important for every part of the country. For example, the beef and sheep farmers across Mayo rely on it for bedding, foodstuff and so on. If we lose this sector, we will have to rely on international markets and we have seen how volatile they have been in recent years. That is why it is fundamentally important that we protect the tillage sector.
It is important the Minister fully understand that there is an unequal playing field in the tillage sector. It is akin to fielding Mayo in an all-Ireland final with 15 players against Kildare with ten and telling the spectators it is an even playing field. That is what is happening, because we are importing grain from outside the European market that does not have the same level of compliance standards and so on and selling it in the same market. No distinction is made between Irish grain and international imports. It is incredible to think that genetically modified grain is coming into Ireland and it is being sold in the same way as grain produced in Ireland. That is fundamentally unfair. We are setting tillage farmers up as it is such a skewed and unfair market. It is therefore important we address the structural inequalities. This is one of the reasons we have been so opposed to the Mercosur deal. What is happening in the tillage sector is coming down the tracks for the beef sector as well. I urge the Minister to work to have a differentiation between Irish native grain and imports.
Perhaps he could develop a label with Bord Bia, for example. Irish whiskey is a premium product around the world. To think that Irish whiskey might be produced without any native grain is pretty incredible. I ask that the Minister look at that. The entire structure of the European tillage market needs to be examined before we sign any more international trade deals. It should be a basic requirement that if we are going to import foodstuffs into the European Union that it must come with the same levels of standards we hold Irish farmers to. Unless we do that, we are at nothing when it comes to environmentalism. The emissions produced in Mayo, Kildare or Galway are the same as they are in Brazil. The CBAM tax is another issue coming down the tracks as well. The fertiliser costs will increase the cost of production for tillage farmers.

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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