I am a huge proponent of the tillage sector, which plays a critical role in Irish agriculture. It is a sector I have backed with new and innovative schemes and that I will continue to back into the future given its value. It provides feed for our livestock sector and materials for our food and beverage sectors. While no specific targets are set by my Department for land use associated with the growing of crops for 2022 to 2025, I support the tillage sector through targeted policy interventions and supports. The pro…

I definitely want to see the area under production increase. The trend in recent years and decades where the area under tillage has shrunk is not good for Irish agriculture. We have tremendous potential to grow grain successfully and productively in this country and I want to put a big emphasis on improving that in the time ahead. Looking at the range of schemes that we have in place this year and that are plugged into the next CAP strategic plan, it is evident that support for the tillage sector is strong. It is h…

I have met the farmers in the Deputy's constituency who have taken that initiative. It is encouraging and shows the potential that is there. Any measure that we can take to push and maximise the potential to reverse the trend of recent years and to grow tillage again is something I will consider and promote. The straw incorporation scheme, for example, which I launched as a pilot measure for the first time last year, delivers up to €10,000 for a tillage farmer with 100 acres. That is something that I have plugged i…

My Department is currently in discussion with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform about the potential for further support measures for the agrifood and fisheries sectors to address negative impacts from Brexit. The Brexit Adjustment Reserve has strict criteria that must be met to qualify for funding. In particular any proposed measures must address the direct negative impacts arising from Brexit. A number of sectors have been adversely affected by Brexit with immediate effect. To date, measures have bee…

Brexit posed a massive challenge to our economy across the board. As the UK is the main destination for our agrifood exports, the risk factor there was massive. The fact that there was a trade and co-operation agreement mitigated some of the worst fears we had in regard to tariff barriers and other issues. Thankfully, since Brexit, trade with the UK has been very strong, as have prices and value. Of course, there are structural challenges in regard to how that evolves over time. We are working hard to see what oppo…

As I said in my response, we are looking at that in great detail. The criteria for qualifying for the Brexit adjustment reserve are very specific. One has to show the direct impact. Thankfully, agri-food has done well since Brexit, in particular our trade with the UK. We are looking at any potential options. In terms of any content the Deputy might have or particular suggestions, it is easy to talk about a fair share and to talk in generalities, but there is not much content or proposals in what he has said this mo…

That is what my Department is looking at in great detail, because we want to support the agri-food sector in every way we can. As Deputy Carthy is aware, in terms of the immediate cost pressures, I have provided a €56 million fodder support scheme, which delivers €1,000 to each family farm in the country up to 10 ha, directly to support the sector and farm families to deal with the cost challenges that exist. I have done it separate to the emergency support of €15 million because there is less red tape involved by …

Since the publication of the report of the seafood task force in October 2021, Navigating Change, I have announced a number of support schemes for our fishing fleet and wider seafood sector and coastal communities. Between October and December 2021, a Brexit temporary fleet tie-up scheme made available supports of between €4,600 and €88,700 per month, depending on vessel size, for vessels to tie up for a calendar month. Vessels in the Rockall squid fishery could tie up for two months, which 179 vessels availed of. …

I would not say it is unprecedented for the fishing organisations to come together to speak on the same issue and deliver the same message. The challenge relating to fuel is one we have been dealing with for some months since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. I previously met all those organisations together to discuss this issue. Their request to me in March and April was for a second tie-up scheme. The seafood fisheries task force had recommended only a one-month tie-up scheme for this year, but the fishers' repre…

As I said, it is not unprecedented because representatives of all those same organisations met me in March and April to discuss exactly the same challenges, and their proposal and ask of me then was for a second month of the tie-up scheme, which I delivered on. Such a scheme is not in place in other countries that have been impacted by Brexit, although without doubt they have been impacted to a lesser extent than us. That was their specific request to me then and I delivered on it. I met them again as recently as l…

I thank the Deputy for his engagement and for his advocacy on behalf of farm families over these challenging months. The input price challenge facing our farm families is something we are both very much aware of, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon. Over the past year, significant price rises have occurred, primarily in the energy sector, with natural gas and oil prices reaching record highs. These high prices have had significant impacts in all sectors. Following a strong year for farm incomes last year, wh…

As Deputy Griffin knows, these issues and challenges have been very much on the Government's mind in recent months, both at an Executive level and also among our parliamentary party members. It is something on which the Deputy has also engaged very closely with the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, and me, and we will continue that engagement. The measures introduced in recent months have been thought through to try to deliver support to farm families in the best and most effective way possible in a way that suppor…

Deputy Griffin is absolutely right. Farmers are normal citizens with the same normal everyday pressures on their families that every other family has outside of their daily working lives. Obviously, there are particular pressures in terms of their work life and cost pressures, on which the Government is supporting them with as best it can. Likewise, there is a real pressure arising from the general increase in the cost of living and ordinary non-farming life. It is really important that we look at how we can reward…

I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for raising this issue. As somebody who is a strong advocate on behalf of farmers in his constituency and as a former Minister for agriculture, this is an issue he has worked on consistently over the last number of years. I too am acutely aware of the emotional and financial burden that comes with a TB breakdown for a farm family, so making significant progress in reducing TB incidence rates remains a key priority of mine. The main compensation provision of the bovine TB programme is th…

I recently met with the TB forum. The next meeting of the financial working group is on 21 July. That will be attended by officials from my Department and representatives of the farming organisations. The group has held five meetings this year so I look forward to it completing its work. It was the TB forum that was set up 16 months ago and it has a number of working groups under it. It was very important to come together and work to one strategy. I acknowledge the work of all key stakeholders. It is only through e…

I thank Deputy Brendan Smith for raising this issue and for his ongoing advocacy on behalf of the farming community. I have asked that all of the work be completed as quickly as possible. The working group will meet at the end of this month and I look forward to progress being made there. Overall, we can take heart from the fact that by everyone working together in the TB forum and by agreeing the new TB strategy, we are making progress. We can make real progress on that in the time ahead by coming together working…

I thank Deputy Paul Murphy for his question. As he will be aware, the Government will soon establish and publish our sectoral emission ceilings. The Climate Action Plan 2021 set out a reduction range of between 22% and 30% for the agricultural sector from an emissions baseline of 23 MT CO2 equivalent in 2018. The achievement of this target will take a whole-of-government and whole-of-sector approach. I am committed to working with the sector on achieving emissions reductions. Earlier this year, I established the Fo…

I know agriculture and the day-to-day lives of farm families would not occupy Deputy Paul Murphy’s daily workload or time very much. We have to consider the important role that agriculture plays in food production in this country. It is also important to know and understand that because we do not have the industrial base that other developed countries have, agriculture makes up a bigger proportion of our national emissions. Reaching the 22% part of the range would see transformational change in our agriculture syst…

The Deputy likes to use the term “big agri-business” but our farm families, on which our agriculture is based, do massive work.

It is Deputy Paul Murphy’s industrialised farming model. He is the only one who uses that language. We have a family farming model in this country which, frankly and thankfully, the Deputy does not really have a bull’s notion about or an understanding of. It is based on work that farm families do right across the country. People throughout the food supply chain try to maximise the value of that. We ensure that farm families are supported. It is important that this work continues. As I said our starting point for ag…