I thank the Deputy. This is something that has to be at the core of all of our attention in the time ahead. We are blessed to have a wonderful food-producing country, to have a landscape and a climate that facilitate this and, indeed, to have a farming community which has the skill set and the passion to be able to ensure that the sector is as strong as it can be. However, in order for the agricultural sector to stay strong and to maximise our future potential, we are depending on bringing young people in to drive …

The Deputy has identified the two key aspects in terms of economic viability for farming. Those are price and the economic schemes and supports we have in place to support food production and farmers' work at farm level. On price, 90% of our food is exported so it is dependent on the prices available internationally. However, the significant step I took as Minister was introducing the agrifood regulator with the objective of having a statutory independent agency to bring about as much transparency in the food suppl…

I agree with Deputy Kenny. That is why I took the unprecedented step of establishing a statutory legal authority to deliver on that. I have also asked it to continue to engage and update me on its progress and I will be stepping to enhance its powers further as is necessary to make sure that transparency is there throughout the supply chain. We obviously have to be proportionate in law in how we establish any agency, but we have to make sure it has all the powers it needs to be effective. I am determined to ensure …

I thank Deputy Harkin for raising this. This is something I strongly support and PGI status would greatly enhance the capacity of boxty to grow in popularity and be understood and develop in new markets internationally. I am glad to report that my Department expects to shortly publish the PGI application for boxty as part of the national opposition procedure required under the relevant EU regulation. This opposition procedure, which is like a public consultation, will allow anyone having a legitimate interest or an…

I understand the Deputy's frustration. I assure her I will keep ensuring every priority is given to this to get it to that point. There has been a lot of engagement with the applicant group and a lot of work on revised drafts of the application types over time. There have also been consultations on the types of ingredients for the different types of boxty included in the application for PGI status as well as the regions to be covered by the product and other technical matters associated with the European Commission…

I thank Deputies Harkin and Kenny. The geographical area for the production of boxty in the context of the PGI application is Cavan, Leitrim, Sligo and Mayo. It is a great product. You do not see it in enough counties. It also has great potential particularly in terms of its health and nutrition benefits in the current context where people are looking for products that are not as processed and which have good benefits. It has great potential to grow and the PGI status is something which could really assist with tha…

It is hard-----

Less than that.

If we look back from the point where we made the application for the grass-fed beef PGI, from memory it was probably 18 months to two years from the point of application to the third-country opposition procedure to it getting final approval. It was about that scale of time. It is hard to be precise on it but those are the steps which have to be gone through.

I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor. First, I congratulate the Deputy and all in the south east on the very successful outcome, which is wonderful news for the region. I know it is something for which she worked very hard with her colleagues and on which we had a lot of engagement. The news has been wonderfully well received in the north west as it has in the south east. It is exciting news indeed. It is a real vote of confidence in our agriculture sector in the south east, in the region and also in the technological u…

Pending the registrations and preparations being put in place, the plan is that we will see the first intake of students in the south east, at Waterford and Kildalton, in September 2026, just under two years away. The recruitment and the scaling up of the accommodation and infrastructure that need to be put in place will happen between now and then, although that is not far away. From that point onwards, we will see it grow every year to a maximum of 200 students. It is the culmination of a very long and thorough p…

I have no doubt that South East Technological University and Kildalton will make all of the information known and it will become part of the course options available to young students as they complete their leaving certificate. It is an exciting opportunity and it is great to see it happening in a local area. It is prohibitively expensive for young people to go abroad to pursue their passion. We are now almost doubling the annual intake in veterinary, which is a great step forward. I thank Deputy Murnane O'Connor f…

The value of Ireland’s food, drink and horticulture exports was almost €16.3 billion last year. Agri-food products emanate from every county in the country and we are now exporting to 180 markets and countries around the globe. The fact that our agri-food products are sought after worldwide is a testament to the high standards that apply and the good reputation that Ireland has for food production. EU regulations require food and feed business operators to ensure that all stages of production within their control c…

That is critical. I thank the Deputy for putting this on the agenda of the Dáil today. Auditing and regular day-to-day oversight and inspection are crucial to confidence in our food sector. Anywhere where something is identified that is not compliant, it is immediately followed up and taken very seriously. We have put significant staffing resources into this, as well as robust checks and balances, and that is something we will continue with. As I said, in any instance where standards are not as they should be, imme…

On the first question concerning an issue that arose many years ago, I am absolutely satisfied that the systems and checks in place are sufficiently robust to ensure the integrity of the food system is overseen and there are checks and balances. This country has an exceptional food traceability system for livestock from birth to slaughter, and the product can be traced right back to the farm. Of course, we now have a national programme under way. We will become the first country in the world to genotype the full na…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I know ACRES has had a very strong uptake in County Clare and there has been a good experience on the ground for the majority of farmers. I want to make sure that it is a good experience for everyone, that it works well for everyone and that the system and administration work smoothly. There have been challenges in the first year. It is the only scheme within the CAP programme with which there were particular challenges last year. It is the most complex because it has moved…

We have issued 35,000 scorecards so far. It is important farmers get that so they can look to improve their scores in future years. Farmers do not know how they will score until they get the scorecard. That is a change from previous schemes. The average payments of €5,200 for the co-operation and €5,100 for the general are on track and where we expected them to be, but there is significant variation at farm level depending on the score. There has been significant work in recent months on getting scorecards out, and…

Probate is always an issue and will always, unfortunately, hold up a payment. Probate has to be completed because there has to be legal certainty as to who the payment is made to after a death. That can always be challenged during the probate process so the Department has to have that certainty. That is an issue we cannot resolve but will try to work through, being as supportive as we can. Across the schemes there has been a strong outcome. The new schemes have got up and running well. The most complex and challeng…

The score informs the payment. Where a farmer gets the full payment, it is based on the score and only occurs when the score is finalised. On giving farmers approval for NPIs, every farmer in the co-operation scheme has €17,500 available to spend over the course of ACRES to take steps which will see improvements in the scores at farm level. That €17,500 is still available to every farmer. We want to make sure farmers get those approvals to start drawing that €17,500 down so it can impact their score and their base …

I thank the Deputy. We have discussed it in a fair bit of detail. In terms of uptake, we have had 55,000 farmers apply. The Government has intervened to make sure every farmer who applied got approval and was taken into it when they applied. We had 46,000 applications in tranche 1. We had projected that 30,000 would apply but we intervened to accept all 46,000 applications. About 10,000 farmers applied in tranche 2. Again, we intervened and took all of those in. It is the one scheme in which there were challenges i…