Fuel Supports to the Agricultural Sector: Statements
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

That is fair enough. I accept that. It is important to make that point.
The clarity Senator McCormack referenced will be coming soon, but we have made huge progress in regard to the mechanics of how this operates.
Senator Cosgrove painted a bleak picture of the challenges and the concerns that exist. In the context of the points she made - I do not have time to dwell on this but I would love to get into a longer debate on it - I bring to her attention the fact that we have interventions that support our more marginal sectors, such as the vegetable sector, that are struggling. The introduction of the agrifood regulator, which I have granted additional powers, is a direct support to equalise the balance between the primary producer, the processor and the retailer and, in that space, the vulnerability that the primary producer has had in the past. A ban on below-cost selling will only drive more money into the supermarkets' pockets. You cannot guarantee that money gets back to the primary producer. We have to protect the primary producer - I absolutely see that - and we have to protect our system. To challenge the overall point the Senator made to the effect that exporting food is bad and that importing food is bad, there is an inference there that we should just get back to sustainability. There was a great deal of subsistence farming in the 1950s, and we were a very poor country.
The direct answer to Senator O'Reilly's question is that I completely disagree with Leo Varadkar's comments. The reason I believe he is wrong is because activity in rural Ireland drives our rural economy. Our urban dwellers love to go on holidays down the country over the summer. It is not only the tourism industry that has our vibrant rural communities. It is our fishers and our farmers and the work they do all year round that drives those communities on and that ensures that our countryside is well kept and that Ireland is a beautiful place to visit. This is as a result of our rural towns and villages being driven on because of the multiplier effect created by our farmers spending money locally and by their making money from producing beef and dairy products and exporting them. Food security is about the integrated nature of global food supply chains. It is not about producing everything here ourselves. However, that is a matter for a wider debate.
In response to Senator Noonan's points on regenerative agriculture, there is a lot happening in that space. Getting back to the point, let us not distil it down into too much simplification from a food security perspective.
Senator O'Donovan spoke about simplification and asked whether I would consider a review of all schemes. We have that coming up in the form of the reform of the CAP. We will hold the Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of this year. I am not being glib in saying that. I am actually saying that the Senator is dead right, but this is the huge opportunity. When I have the Presidency of the AGRIFISH Council, in designing the new CAP, I am determined that we deliver simplification. I am on the record previously as saying that means fewer schemes. It means less paperwork to get whatever money we have - we will fight for more money because we do not have enough in it - delivered as easily as possible.
It is absolutely our intention to support fishers. Senators Kyne and Boyle were in contact with me in respect of inshore fisheries as well and the €5 million monthly. We are at an advanced stage on designing a new scheme there as well.
Senator Conway spoke of managing expectations. I am. My expectation is that I will have a scheme open for farmers and contractors very soon and that I will be able to pay them soon after. In terms of the importance of live exports, Ireland has a very high standard of animal welfare. This is something that I have responsibility for and that I take very seriously.
Senator Scahill referred to new entrants. We provide for new entrants in other schemes. My clear commitment to Macra, which raised this with me directly, is that there would be provision for somebody who is a first-time farmer this year and who did not farm last year. We have to design that. It is my hope and intention to be able to devise a way to do that for new contractors as well, but, obviously, we also have to protect taxpayers' money in that regard.
Senator O'Reilly missed my earlier contribution. In it, I touched on a lot of the points the Senator raised.
Those are most of the points I want to make. I thank Senators for this debate. I understand how important it is that we deliver a scheme that supports our farmers, farm contractors, fishers and forestry contractors through this most difficult of times. Recognising that challenge, there is a good rationale for the entire State and every citizen in it to support them. I thank the Senators for their support and look forward to being back before them in the near future.

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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