Tillage Sector
Dail Éireann — 2025-10-14
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Martin Heydon (FG), Kildare South

The whiskey file is one element that we can do as part of that future-proofing piece. In the meeting with the tillage farmers on the night in question I discussed the role of quality assurance, which we can make progress on if we all work together, and addressing the use of native grains, how they are used in our feed system, how they are incorporated and how we can monetise that for farmers. Teagasc will say that there is a lower emission profile using native grains as a feedstock for Irish beef. There is a story to tell there in terms of our emission profile of the beef produced from that feed. There is a piece we need to look at and identify how we monetise it to get a greater return for the produce so that the farmer benefits from using that if there is a higher cost to that input.
I have asked for the whiskey file to be re-examined. I have responsibility for the whiskey sector, which is under significant pressure. I am not coming to that with a specific viewpoint. There are pitfalls we have to be careful about here. If there was a year of a bad crop or crop failure here, we still have to be able to produce whiskey. It is about looking at that technical file to see how we can bring that value-added piece. That is the medium-term solution for supporting the tillage sector beyond one-off payments or financial direct schemes.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-10-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:04+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-14