Fuel Supports to the Agricultural Sector: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Nessa Cosgrove (LAB), Labour Panel

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. We all know in here that the production of meat and dairy for global markets is a key sector of our economy and provides about 7% of the total gross value added of our annual wealth, which is €16 billion annually coming in to our country through agricultural exports. Up to now, this existing free market economic model in the export of high value dairy and meat made sense but this model of working is over. The era of free market global trade is over. I do not want to be the prophet of doom but it is like Senator Paul Daly said, the move towards tariffs, protectionism and trade wars was evident even in the first Trump Presidency. We failed to take that warning and we failed to act when the second Trump regime started weaponising tariffs to ensure their policy objectives.
The growing, packing and movement of cheap food is dependent upon the availability of cheap oil but the era of cheap oil is over. We have seen the cost of green diesel, which farmers depend on, almost double in two months from around 97 cent to €1.80 a litre. It does not take an economist understand that the operation of a farm in Sligo or Leitrim making an average annual income of just €25,000 rapidly becomes unsustainable in these circumstances. Nearly all the fertiliser that beef farmers use is imported and produced in the Middle East, China and Russia, regions that are either currently unstable or at high risk of instability due to possible future conflicts. Two thirds of the grain we use to feed our cattle or to produce our bread is imported. Food is packaged in disposable plastic trays and bags made from fossil fuels and shipped or flown around the world. Beef and dairy is going out while vegetables and grain are coming in. We have failed to prepare for the end of the two eras of globalisation and cheap fossil fuels, leaving us completely vulnerable to global food insecurity.
In the over-specialisation of the production of beef and dairy for export, we have also failed to protect our growers. We should have seen the dangers and we should have acted sooner. We need to move beyond supports only for dairy and beef. Of course support dairy and beef farmers but we must also provide more support for our growers. A total of 83% of our fresh fruit and vegetables are imported. This is not just the exotics that we cannot grow here but it is also the crops we could easily grow in Ireland. Apples, carrots, broccoli, onions, garlic and potatoes are imported from across the globe at an enormous financial and environmental cost. There has been a collapse in the number of commercial growers operating within the State from around 600 in the 1990s - where I grew up there were growers all around me - to just 74 today. Recently, a grower in Kilkenny responsible for 12% of our national carrot crop went into liquidation.
Making the changes that would support our growers would be a relatively simple process. This is why I appreciate this debate with the Minister. Below-cost selling and the undercutting of Irish products by supermarkets needs to be stopped. We should be subsidising Irish produce at the point of sale so that choosing the Irish option will always be cheaper for the consumer and it should never cost the producer. Farming is an indigenous enterprise that could produce enough vegetables, grain, poultry, meat, eggs and dairy to meet our needs. We have amazing assets. We have the skills of farmers, the innovation of the agrifood sector and the support of CAP. We also have an abundance of natural resources. As well as bringing real money into our economy from outside the country, farmers generate employment and wealth throughout our rural communities. We all know that farmers support local economies. They buy local and the money stays in the local economy.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21