I am aware that this is an issue in particular areas of the country. We have a land market and there are no such restrictions in place at the moment but it is open to any private individual or Member of the Parliament to come forward with any suggestions they might wish to propose in that regard. It is not something that the Department of agriculture has assessed. Obviously landownership, and the right of people to sell or acquire land in an open market is the situation that pertains. Our farming model is based on …

I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this matter. He is absolutely right; it has been a really stressful time for farmers throughout the country. It has been an unprecedentedly long winter in many ways, with animals being housed, in many cases, from last September up to today. That is the guts of a seven-month winter and puts massive pressure on farmers. Dairy farmers are going out to milk every morning and are still not able to get the cows out to grass. That means pressure. Other farmers are calving cows and lam…

I know Senator Gallagher is a strong advocate for the farming community across his Cavan-Monaghan constituency and is in tune with farmers there and the pressure they are under. It has been a difficult year in his locality, as it has been in many other parts of the country. We have been conscious of that in government. As Minister I have worked to make sure we have responded as this has evolved, working closely with all stakeholders through the fodder committee, tasking Teagasc to provide support, introducing the f…

I thank the Acting Chairperson and Seanadóirí for scheduling these statements today. It is important that we discuss this as it is an acute issue and it has been a very difficult time for farmers in all sectors and all parts of the country. As we know, it has been an exceptionally long winter. Going back as far as the ploughing championships last year in early September, the rain was soaking the ground and there has not really been any relief since that. Indeed, it was challenging before that. It led to a very earl…

I thank the Cathaoirleach and all our contributors. It was a very comprehensive debate that covered all parts of the country and dealt with the many sectors under significant pressure at present. I thank Senators Paul Daly, Mullen, Lombard, Hoey, Joe O'Reilly, Malcolm Byrne, McGreehan, Maria Byrne, Dooley, Kyne and Cummins for taking the time to give their insights into the challenges we face at the moment, the measures we are taking, and what they feel may be needed as we go through the course of the year. Many is…

I thank the Deputies who contributed to this debate for their constructive engagement on what is important and far-seeing legislation. I am certain my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McGrath, looks forward to engaging with Deputies further on Committee and Report Stages on the issues which have been raised this evening. As the Minister stated during the significant amount of time he was present in the House to deal with this legislation today, the Bill legislates for two new funds, the future Ireland fund and the i…

I thank Senator Daly for raising this issue. The Senator is a strong advocate of the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, and has been in touch with me on a regular basis with regard to the development of this particular TAMS. This issue regarding reference costs is one on which he has been advocating very strongly. I will first give a general overview of the scheme for the House, much of which the Senator will know. The Department's reference costs for the target agricultural modernisation scheme are …

I thank the Senator again for raising this issue. It is the first time it has been raised with me on the floor of the Seanad or Dáil. It is no surprise it is the Senator who has done so, given his commitment to the scheme and to the importance of on-farm investment. The structure of the scheme and the way it operates are about going forward. It is my understanding that this is what we have approval to do. I accept the Senator's point that as we move forward with the scheme, it must be reflective of costs. The costs…

I thank Deputy Kerrane. Payments to farmers are particularly important. I place a big emphasis on them in the context of the role played by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. That is why last year, which was the first year of the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, we put a massive effort into making sure that we would set dates at the start of the year that could be delivered upon. In the context of the adjusted dates we used last year, for example, for the pillar 1 schemes, we succeeded in deliv…

Tax averaging is available to farmers to even out what can be uneven incomes that come from farming, particularly in terms of prices and sales. It is also available in the context of the two payments farmers are due to receive. This is the first time a decision to offer an interim payment has been made by a Minister. I am taking this approach because I understand the importance of ensuring that farmers are paid. By the end of the month, every farmer who participated in ACRES last year will have been paid. Some will…

In reply to Deputy Kerrane, as I say, the income averaging which is available to farmers is available in this case. The objective has been to make sure that farmers get paid as early as possible. That was not possible in December, but we are making sure that everyone will be paid by the end of this month. As matters stand, I only have funding for 4,000 farmers this year. As the Deputy knows, I accepted all 46,000 in last year. That had not happened before, but it was important that we made that step to make sure ev…

I continue to be particularly aware of the challenges being faced by the seafood sector and by fishing families and particularly the challenge we have had over the past couple of years around the increased costs of marine fuel. As previously stated in a response to this issue, I met with the industry’s representative groups a number of times to discuss this as well as other matters. I also reported on the development of support schemes in line with the recommendations of the seafood task force, which I established.…

We are using it all up. We will not leave any of it behind.

I do not know offhand. I can ask my team to revert to the Deputy on that matter. It will all be used. In the coming weeks, I will announce about €258 million in different schemes that will come in over the next few years to support the sector, particularly inshore fishers. The price on 12 February for marine gas oil was 64 cent per litre. Just before the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, it was 62 cent per litre. It is back to the level it was before the invasion of Ukraine albeit prices then were a bit higher tha…

The Deputy is welcome to put forward a policy suggestion in this regard as to what such a scheme would look like. It would entail paying for and subsidising the cost of buying fuel because the State does not apply any Revenue charges. Her party does not have any policy in this area at the moment. Should she wish to develop a policy, I will look at it and see what she proposes. The State does not apply any Revenue charges except for VAT, which is reclaimable by many fishers but not all. VAT, as the Deputy knows, app…

The Government fully recognises that there was an exceptional flooding incident and event in the Shannon Callows late last summer which prevented some farmers from completing normal traditional harvesting of silage and or hay. This left affected farmers in a serious situation requiring them to purchase fodder to maintain animal health and welfare during the winter months. It was the first time there was any intervention to support flooding on the callows. No Government had ever done this prior to my announcing, on …

Each of those who have given an expression of interest having not originally been identified is having their submission looked at. The AMS is being used to verify those appeals. In any scheme like this, there have to be boundaries and conditions attached to make it possible to administer. This particular scheme has been confined to farmers who have land within the Shannon Callows SAC area. As I have said, 268 out of 277 who have applied have been paid. As I outlined earlier, another 64 requests have been received f…

This scheme was particular to the Shannon Callows SAC. There are obviously instances of flooding in areas across the country where there is no flood scheme. This is the first time we have ever done this. It has never happened before. The challenge in any scheme like this is determining where to draw the boundaries and the lines. The issue raised by the Deputy and others related to the Shannon Callows in particular. There is a Shannon Callows SAC. With regard to the administration of the scheme, it is those within t…

I thank Deputy Kerrane. The Deputy will be aware that the ACRES scheme is our flagship environmental scheme under the new CAP. Over the course of the past year we have had 1.1 million ha of land scored, representing 25% of our overall total productive land in the Republic, including more than 400,000 ha of commonage. This is a phenomenal achievement and one that advisers and farmers as well as ACRES co-operation project, CP, teams and other stakeholders can be rightly proud of. In supporting this results-based appr…

This issue was first brought to my attention by the INHFA and their Donegal chairman, Mr. John McConway, and the concern that turbary as scored as part of the wider commonage would have a disproportionate impact. Having taken on board that concern, there was engagement with the Department. The direction agreed after that was that the turbary would be extracted from the wider commonage and scored separately. My team in the Department then developed a protocol working with the co-operation project teams. They agreed …