International Year of the Woman Farmer: Motion Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-20 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel I will not delay. It has been a long night. I thank the Minister for coming to the House and for his ongoing support. I acknowledge the presence of Mr. Bell, one of the Minister’s officials from the Department of agriculture, and thank him for his positive contribution and engagement on the background information. I flagged the wording of the motion to the Department, and I found it very helpful to have its constructive engagement. There is a lesson for us all. Where we work closely together and collaborate, we can get consensus. I thank all of the Senators who took part in the debate. It is one of the most positive debates I have been part of in all of my years in the Seanad. Everyone who came here today had a real interest and personal experience. I again thank the Minister. I know the Minister's family, and I knew his mother. It was good of the Minister to share his personal experience. Everyone had a personal story to tell in their contributions. That is unique. It represents something of our love for the land, our love for agriculture and our involvement. Everyone who came here clearly has a huge interest in this. I acknowledge the Leas-Chathaoirleach, who is an active and proactive member of the agricultural panel. We collaborate and work well together. I thank her for that ongoing support. I also acknowledge the president of Macra na Feirme, who is a woman, and the vice president of the IFA, Alice Doyle, who is proactive and very engaging on all things agriculture. I want to commend the Library and Research Service, which serves this House so well. It provided a blog and background information on the matter. That was circulated yesterday, and was very helpful. I am grateful for the cross-party support for this motion. We really have something very special. I have a final appeal. The Minister will be embarking on a very busy six months from July with the Presidency of the European Union. It is a very special, privileged place. Deputy Heydon finds himself at the centre of that as the Minister for agriculture and by being a central part of agricultural policy across the European Union. It is challenging and exciting, and I wish him well. More than anybody, the Minister has an opportunity, and the Irish EU Presidency has an opportunity, given that agriculture will be one of the key pinnacles of policy development during the EU Presidency. I ask the Minister to keep the focus on active engagement in sustainable agriculture, horticulture and forestry, and the great role of and great opportunity for women. I go back again to the issue of how we support and empower women, but also men and everybody who wishes to be involved in agriculture and sustainable food production. That is what it is all about. We are going nowhere if we do not have food. At the same time, we also want to continue to demonstrate our practical support for rural communities, for they will die if they do not have agriculture and land-based economic activity. At the AILG conference a few weeks ago, there was a presentation by the GAA on its clubs, which are dying in parts of rural Ireland. Parish life is collapsing in parts of rural Ireland. There is an interconnectivity to all of these things that bring about lively, sustainable and vibrant rural communities. I thank the Minister. I wish him well for the very exciting six months of the Presidency of the European Union. --- 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