Horticulture Sector
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-14
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Robert O'Donoghue (LAB), Dublin Fingal West

As the Minister knows, commercial growers across the country are under enormous and sustained pressure. I am specifically talking about a very small subset of those growers who use gas to heat their greenhouses in order to grow certain vegetables. The soaring energy bills, higher fertiliser prices and transport costs they are facing due to the Middle East crisis are pushing them to the brink.
We are not talking here about abstract figures on a spreadsheet. These are family-run businesses that employ local people, produce Irish food and sustain our food security. Even as energy costs continue to spiral, we need supports that reflect the reality on the ground. Growers simply cannot continue if they are forced to operate on a month-to-month survival basis, constantly exposed to cash-flow pressures and squeezed further by supermarket pricing dynamics. It is a small sector, but it is certainly an important sector in north County Dublin. It is specifically those using gas to power their glasshouses. I see an ethical dilemma for some people, but there are not many growers left. We would like to keep them.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:56+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-14