Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-13
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Paul Nicholas Gogarty (IND), Dublin Mid-West

I am not trying to cause panic, but we need to be prepared. We have seen the virus on the boat in the Canary Islands. What if it was a more resilient and transmissible virus? What if the Iranian war or other conflicts prevented us from getting as many boats to this country? That is the issue. Food Vision 2030 is based on exports and farm income diversification. It is not about having a national food security plan. My understanding is that there is such a plan in the Netherlands. Even within an EU context, we need a contingency plan in case something happens. That is why we need a strategic food reserve as well as our strategic oil reserve. That means giving grant aid to farmers to allow them to engage in diversification. As the Taoiseach said, a lot of this produce could be turned into animal feed if we do not need it. However, we need some homegrown food stability. I would like to see an actual food security plan.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:03+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-13