Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I have always admired the Deputy's bluntness. I will make a couple of points. I say this respectfully. We have to be considered in our comments around trade. The Deputy knows this and I do not need to be telling him or his constituents this but we are exporting about 90% of the agrifood we are producing in this country. We need to understand that. Again, I am not suggesting the Deputy does not, but we need to bring it into the public debate. Do we want a trade situation where we can sell our product anywhere but no one else can sell theirs here? That is not what the Deputy said but it is a natural outworking. If we want to continue to sell Irish produce across the world, as we proudly do, we need to understand that trade is two-way and that will mean continuing to engage in trade agreements.
We have to start having earlier and honest conversations with farmers It always seems the conversation with the farmer comes at the end of the trade deal and that is mistaken. I have said that to the trade Commissioner. We should be engaging much earlier with the farming community to understand and address those issues earlier. We also have to be honest. The figures have been or are about to be published. I think we made about €21 billion in agrifood exports in the last year. That is based on selling our stuff to other places. The natural outworking of that is that we need to allow people sell their stuff into the European Union. It is a two-way relationship. This country is a small, open economy that is extraordinarily reliant on trade. I still think we can do better in engaging with and addressing the views of farmers and agrifood producers earlier.
The second point I will make is on land in general. I agree with the Deputy that we cannot have a situation where the farmer is held up as the bogey-man for the climate emergency. It is not fair and it is not true. We see really good progress being made in agriculture. Instead of lecturing farmers, we have to work with them and incentivise them. We have to make sure they can continue to make a living and that we can continue to support the family farm. That brings me to things like the nature restoration law. Anything to do with that will be voluntary, voluntary, voluntary. It cannot use CAP funding, but it is up to farmers to choose whether they want to pursue it or not. We need to support our farmers. We have come through a difficult flooding situation. The Deputy is very knowledgeable on this. Things like adaptation and using State lands, in the first instance, to provide better resilience will be important to rural, and indeed urban, communities. We have to support our farmers financially in making the transitions that need to be made; support them in participating, whether in ACRES or the areas of natural constraint scheme; support them in nature, biodiversity and environment; support the forestry sector, with funding of €93 million allocated this year - an increase on last year; and work with them in partnership and recognise farming is not some sort of discretionary extra or hobby. It is the crucial backbone of the Irish indigenous economy. I do passionately believe that. We will have the Presidency in the second half of this year and we need to make sure that is reflected in the priorities of the European budget.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19