Tillage Sector: Statements Dail Éireann — 2025-10-15 ============================================================ Noel Grealish (IND), Galway West I hope the committee has visited Moorepark in Cork as well. I was very impressed by it. It has been said that the Government is not trying to support the tillage industry. I compliment the Minister, Deputy Heydon, on going to the meeting in the Killashee Hotel recently. Over 1,000 people attended that meeting. It was very important for the Minister to be there. It shows how seriously he takes this issue that he turned up at that meeting and spent over three hours there listening to farmers' concerns regarding tillage. He has to be complimented on that and I was delighted to hear many speakers across the House compliment him on going there and listening to the farmers' concerns at first hand. I am sure the information he brought back from that meeting is invaluable and will be worked on within the Department. This discussion has once again underlined how central the tillage sector is to Irish agriculture, our food security, our food supply, our climate ambitions and the sustainability of our rural economy. I will state, as the Minister, Deputy Heydon, did earlier, that the tillage sector is an integral part of Irish farming. This is highlighted by the €1.9 billion per annum contribution it makes to the Irish economy and the 11,000 full-time equivalent jobs it supports. This Government's ambition is clear. We want to see the tillage sector not only recover from the recent challenges but grow and thrive in the years ahead. The past few years have been particularly difficult with adverse weather, volatile markets and increased costs. The Government has responded decisively to these challenges through targeted supports. We have delivered significant additional funding in recent years to both stabilise and encourage growth in the sector. As outlined earlier, budget 2026 provides a support package of at least €50 million through the protein aid scheme, the straw incorporation measure and the tillage support scheme. Consultation with stakeholders on the design and operation of this tillage support scheme will begin in due course. This will help support tillage farm incomes given this year's severe market and provide a strong base to protect the future of tillage farming in Ireland. In addition, there will be a targeted reopening of the organic farming scheme to farmers in the tillage sector. At the same time, we are looking ahead. The Food Vision tillage group our Department established continues to work with stakeholders across industry to develop a long-term roadmap for a resilient and profitable tillage sector, creating new added-value opportunities. Its work is central to shaping policies that strengthen competitiveness and improve environmental performance. Good progress has been made in implementing actions in the report across a range of areas. This work will require ongoing collaboration and sustained effort from all stakeholders. The Common Agricultural Policy will be hugely important to support the incomes of our tillage farmers into the future. The Minister, Deputy Heydon, will continue to play an active role in negotiating with the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, the European Parliament's agriculture committee and his fellow EU agriculture ministers to ensure Irish priorities are reflected in the final agreement. We aim to deliver a CAP that is more straightforward for farmers and strikes an appropriate balance between economic, social and environmental sustainability; flexibility for member states to design schemes that suit national systems; and an adequately funded CAP that continues to underpin farm incomes, food security and rural development. Our farmers have shown remarkable resilience and commitment in the face of unprecedented challenges. The Government stands with them not only in responding to today's pressures but also in building a stronger and more sustainable future for Irish tillage. I again thank the Members for their thoughtful contributions and continued engagement. Like many other Members, I acknowledge that the senior Minister stayed here for the whole debate. That shows how seriously he takes the issues affecting the tillage industry. --- 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