International Year of the Woman Farmer: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-20 ============================================================ Paul Daly (FF), Agricultural Panel Times are tough in the agriculture sector. Senator Brady and I have to share glasses. I welcome the motion and compliment and thank Senator Boyhan for tabling it. It is a debate and conversation that we really need to have. Without being negative about it, but rather trying to expand the debate, it is not as simple as things the Minister or anybody in the Department can do. I start by acknowledging the strong women in my life. While I have a figure in front of me saying that 13.4% of holdings are registered and hence classified as the women farmers of Ireland, my mother was of the "housewife" generation, a word that, thank God, we have lost somewhat. Her name did not appear on anything other than a signature on a cheque, but she was as much a farmer as my father was, as was that entire generation of people. At the moment, my partner, Bernie, is at home farming. Other than on the chequebook, because of the generational renewal problems that we have and the old diehard traditions that the farm has to stay in the family name, this is not reflected. No Government Minister can change that mindset. It is changing with time, through necessity, and because we have now gone from eight to 13 members of a family to one or two, and chances are that there may be two girls, so the option is not there, but, of old, the father would always have said that the farm has to go to the son because it was in his father's name, he entrusted him with it, it is staying in the family name. We are growing out of that but no legislation the Minister can bring in will change that. We have to grow out of it. It is a generational renewal issue. I do not think any woman or girl who wants to farm is being stopped from farming in any way; the problem is getting them to want to farm. This is not only with regard to the female gender but the male gender as well. Farmers out there who are aged over 70 or 80 tell us they would love to retire but none of their families want it. We have to make it attractive for people so that they think there is a future and a profit for them in farming. This is as much of an issue as the one affecting the female gender, but I take the points that have been made. There has been some work done. I have a long list but will not go through it. Gender equality is a core principle of the European Union and the current agricultural policy places particular focus on promoting women's participation in the development of rural areas, with special attention on farming. Despite this, Ireland is only one of two EU states to formally include support for women farmers in its CAP strategy. It is a broader issue than just Ireland, where we are probably ahead of the curve. As Senator Boyhan pointed out in the past 16 minutes, the major issue with this is the lack of resources. It is a bigger issue in Europe where we see we are ahead of the posse on it, but we still have much to do. A lot of work was done by the previous Government and it is carrying through to this Government. The previous Minister, Deputy McConalogue, launched the national dialogue on women in agriculture, which led to the national women in agriculture action plan, the women in agriculture working group and women-only knowledge transfer groups. Our agrifood strategy, Food Vision 2030, launched by the previous Government, recognises the importance of gender balance to a long-term sustainable future for primary producers. It includes commitments to promote and include gender balance at all levels in the sector and to host a national dialogue on women in agriculture. This dialogue took place in 2023 and explored gender equality in farming and the wider agricultural sector, which is also important, as it is not only about the farm. The outcomes and recommendations informed a report and a 12-point action plan. It is important that we act on as many of these as possible. They include hosting a series of demand-driven webinars and local events considering local needs to encourage and promote increased female interaction, leadership and participation in the sector, and increased promotion of agriculture as a viable career for women and young girls in primary and post-primary schools to be progressed through Agri Aware and the Department of education. Other recommendations are to liaise with Teagasc and third level education providers so that there are options to ensure the highest possible female participation; implementing the use of more inclusive language and imagery in communications to farmers and about farming; promoting and normalising female succession, including the consideration of any changes required to policy, taxation, legislation and Department of agriculture schemes; liaising with the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners on the barriers for women farmers within the taxation system to ensure greater inclusivity and fairness; and the Department to consider the sponsorship of a woman in agriculture innovation and excellence award within an existing award programme to acknowledge and recognise those who are leading the way in the agrifood sector. The plan includes a point on establishing a working group to review internal departmental scheme eligibility and educational requirements to ensure maximum opportunities are available to women farmers, in addition to establishing a process to consider the issue and the design and implementation of all schemes, including improved recording and reporting of gender data. Yet another point is on reviewing the procedures and processes in place for the inclusion of women on herd numbers and as herd keepers. I have run out of time, but perhaps the Minister will give us an update on where we are on all of these. I know the work is continuing. I put on the record that we are working on this but it is not a simple fix. --- 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/seanad/2026-05-20/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-20