I have been listening and working and talking to fishers themselves, as well as their representatives, because this challenge is an emergency. I did this as recently as six days ago. I will continue to engage with them on the challenges. As the Deputy knows, many measures are coming out of the seafood task force report, which will support all of the sectors. Through that, I have proposed a total of €425 million to support the sector this year and next year. I have outlined the details of the tie-up scheme, which I …

I have outlined to the Deputy how I have been fully plugged into the industry and its representatives in relation to the pressure that is there. I am also engaged in driving flexibility at European level in relation to how we can respond. I have outlined the scheme which has been submitted, and for which we are hoping to get approval. This will provide relief for the sector at a very difficult and challenging time. We have the Brexit challenge as well, which the sector has been dealing with over the last 18 months.…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue this morning. Unfortunately, this is an ongoing issue, as he and I both know. On behalf of the Government, I again condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine and commend the response of people across the country who are showing solidarity with and support for Ukrainian citizens. At a time when tractors are in the fields domestically, calves are being born and sheep are lambing, many of our brethren farmers in Ukraine are facing a war and taking up arms, in many insta…

Yes, discussions are going on. I have had much engagement with the Commission and, indeed, fellow agriculture ministers on this. I acknowledge Deputy Crowe's advocacy on behalf of the farmers of County Clare with regard to the challenges they are facing at the moment. I visited his alma mater, Salesian Agricultural College in Pallaskenry, last week. I commend the great work it is doing and the service it is providing, of which the Deputy is a product in terms of the education he received there. At European level, t…

I thank the Deputies. I am fully assessing how we can spend that funding and the level of co-funding along with that. The first starting point is looking at the types of interventions we can do that will support farmers as much as possible. As the Deputies will know, I have made interventions already with the tillage scheme, which we discussed, to encourage additional grass growth in relation to multi-species sward and clover swards. There is also the initial support package for the pig sector, which is under even …

I thank Deputy Naughten for raising this issue. I know it is something for which he has been a very strong advocate. I am confident that the food safety controls and traceability systems operated by the Department in co-operation with other relevant agencies, particularly the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, can provide assurances to consumers of Irish beef, wherever they are in the world, that the highest standards of safety and traceability are upheld and enforced here. With regard to traceability in particular,…

As I said, I see merit in the idea and it will be important to the sector to assess it and have ownership of it. I take the Deputy's point about ensuring any future system will work to the benefit of farmers and family farms and add value to animals. I am open to the idea and its potential. If any farm representatives are assessing it or working with the Deputy to flesh it out and consider its potential, I will certainly be happy to engage with them along those lines. I acknowledge the Deputy has advocated for it p…

I appreciate that the PGI application, which relates to grass-fed beef, is another issue for which the Deputy has advocated strongly. The application has been going through the process at the Commission and it is now at the stage where other member states have the opportunity to engage and give their views. As part of this, I have had much engagement with my Northern Ireland counterpart minister, Edwin Poots, in respect of developing the application on a 32-county, all-island basis. We are working closely together …

I acknowledge the Deputy's advocacy on behalf of this project over the years, and in particular since I became Minister, to drive it on and have it delivered. The project goes back a long time, to the early 2000s. Frank Fahey was Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources when it was initiated. While there have been many twists and turns since then, the Deputy has been central to pushing it forward and ensuring we can deliver on it. Likewise, our Government colleagues, including Senators Kyne, Crowe and Pauline …

I cannot answer that now for the Deputy but I certainly will consider the points he has made and come back to him directly. I would be happy to engage with him on any other ideas or views he has on how we approach the project. It was a tremendous day to be there, to see the spirit in the local community, and to meet with all those who have driven this project and advocated for it for so long. It is a tremendous natural resource. The location of the pier has tremendous potential for the years ahead. The Government i…

I thank Deputies Mac Lochlainn and Ó Cuív. There is potential here on a number of fronts. The central objective and rationale behind the port is fisheries and making sure that Ros an Mhíl can thrive and grow again from a fisheries perspective. That is the key rationale. We also have to examine how we can leverage that for existing industries and for the years ahead. Deputy Ó Cuív is correct regarding the State and the Government planning for the transformation that we will see in renewable energy in the years ahead…

I thank the Deputy for raising this. The Department's European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, EMFF, programme is the principal source of funding for the sustainable development of our seafood sector. At this stage, the programme funds are mostly committed and the programme is nearing its end. The new European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund Regulation was adopted in July of last year and work is well advanced on preparing the Department's new seafood development programme, which will bring us up to 2027. I an…

Article 66 of the regulation allows the managing authority of the programme a partial derogation from the regulatory requirements, in that a 50% advance may be paid after approval of the PO's PMP. This derogation is not included in the PO scheme, which was approved at the programme's outset by the monitoring committee of stakeholders. The scheme states that only once the marketing plan has been approved by the Department as the competent authority and the annual report for the year concerned is also approved will i…

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for raising this issue and for his advocacy on, and research into, it and the regulation. It is important that we support our new POs in getting established. I have been supportive of the PO in question. It is playing a major role and providing a significant service to inshore fishers and, in particular, island communities. I will assess the Deputies' points and Deputy Ó Cuív's proposal.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. While overall national energy policy formation is the direct responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, my Department engages closely with it on energy-related matters from an agricultural perspective as well as with a wide range of industry and other stakeholder groupings. The importance of renewable energy generation, particularly from microgeneration, in mitigating carbon emissions has been reflected in the inclusion of targets for…

Under EU regulations, where a farmer is using CAP funding through TAMS, it has to be for his or her own use on the farm, not for generating electricity for payment. It is important that we develop such generation, of course. At the start of this year, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and his Department came forward with a proposal to ensure that feed-in electricity being generated on farms or elsewhere could be paid for. If we drive this forward, it has great potential. Any solar PV panels funded under TAMS must be…

I thank the Deputies. Deputy Stanton is correct that it makes absolute sense to reward and incentivise farmers to feed into the grid and develop the potential of family farms to make a real contribution to energy production, in addition to what that means for emissions and what it can mean in delivering an income for farmers. There is a challenge with TAMS investments in particular and the rules around how they are used.

It is a wider cap. I will get the exact details for the Deputy on the piece around that. TAMS supports on-farm generation for on-farm usage. It is a very sensible and worthwhile thing for farmers to do but it is mainly being used by those who have higher energy needs at present. It only makes sense if farmers use the electricity generated and, therefore, it is more limited in that sense. The Government is committed to delivering the capacity to pay farmers to generate electricity. As Minister, I am considering alon…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. As we know, the war in Ukraine has had a number of impacts on our agrifood sector. It is the number one priority for me, the Ministers of State, Senator Hackett and Deputy Heydon, and the Department. I am working with key agrifood and marine sector stakeholders on an ongoing basis to discuss the impact of the crisis on agrifood supply chains, particularly on the viability of farmers and fishers as primary producers. At farm level, the crisis is likely to have serious impa…

I am satisfied that everything is being done to get supply into the country. That does not mean supply is easy to get or there are not challenges. My Department and I have been liaising closely with feed importers and fertiliser importers. We are in constant contact in that regard. There will be challenges over the next period. It is steady at present, particularly as regards feed over the next period. There are challenges relating to fertiliser in that it is not as available as it was, but I am hopeful that will r…