It absolutely is. We know how well Irish agriculture has been served down through the years and through successive CAPS and the Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 structure. I have grave concerns around any attempt to change that. Not only do I have concerns for the impact on farming, which is why I will fight so hard to articulate the Irish position very clearly, but I also have concerns about the impact on the Single Market. If we go into national policies where everything is in there together, countries will very much go bac…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I recently met farmers from Timoleague, and I visited the area when I was a member of the previous Government. I am well aware of the great work that has happened down there, supported by Teagasc and others, how passionate farmers are, the pressure there is on land availability and how any changes can have an impact. I am very committed to the objective of improving water quality and ensuring the strongest possible scientific case can be made for a continuat…

I absolutely recognise the great work happening in the agricultural catchment programme. The most recently published Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, data shows nitrates concentrations nationally have reduced in a representative sample of our rivers last year. It is acknowledged and welcomed that nitrate levels have also reduced in the Timoleague catchment. Nitrates levels recorded in 2024 in Timoleague were at their lowest level since recording began in 2009. However, the nitrates concentrations in the river …

I appreciate the Deputy's articulation of the concerns, the great work of his constituents and the frustration I know there is on the ground with this change. He talked about rewarding his constituents. The best reward I can get his constituents and the farmers in the Timoleague catchment area is to make sure there is a derogation beyond the end of this year, and that is not by any means guaranteed. In a way, I am a little concerned that there is complacency coming in around the country where people think we will h…

I thank the Deputy for raising a very important point, and he is not the only Deputy here this evening to raise points about bovine TB. It is a really challenging disease to control and eradicate. In recent years, bovine TB levels have continued to deteriorate here in Ireland. Herd incidence has increased from 4.31% in 2022 to 6.04% in 2024, resulting in a 36% increase in the number of herds restricted between those two years. As of 11 May 2025, over a 12-month period, we had a herd incidence of 6.3% with more than…

I reassure the Deputy that everything that is possible is being considered and everything has been looked at. I have started an engagement with the farm organisations and key stakeholders since I was appointed in January, and since the February meeting of the TB forum I have been back and forth with them looking to get their feedback and submissions, having proposals that have come back through my chief veterinary officer, and then taking on board their reactions to those proposals. I made significant changes ahead…

I absolutely want to do this in partnership. I know the stress and strain of this. It goes beyond the financial but the financial is really significant. I want to provide a clear pathway for those 6,000 herds, their farmers and their families that are restricted and that have reactors. I want to give them a clear pathway to show that there is light at the end of the tunnel and a way out of this. Many of those who have multiple reactors really have a sense of hopelessness. I also want to make sure the 94% of farmers…

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a really important point around trade and trade promotion, which has become so pronounced in the lexicon of everybody and much more in the focus of everyone who pays even a cursory glance at what happens in agriculture. When other countries talk about tariffs and changes to our trade flow, it probably brings a focus in this country from people who do not always recognise that we export 90% of the food and drink we produce. It is highly sought after at home and abroad. Any inte…

I thank the Deputy for raising those points. Trade and trade promotion has many different facets, as the Deputy outlined. In terms of the political meetings I had about trade when abroad, reassuring people about our quality assurance scheme, a nationally backed quality assurance scheme that has our farmers, our food companies all together pulling towards the one set of standards that are independently verified, is hugely appreciated and very much recognised internationally. Next month I will travel to Japan and Sou…

That front foot forward is exactly what I am doing in leading my Department. It is why I was in the US for a series of political meetings at Capitol Hill over a couple of days and meetings with other key clients and customers across the US. It is why I will travel to Asia next month. I continue to take those opportunities to tell the story of the innovation that Deputy Clendennen referenced in our food system. Deputy Kenny just highlighted the point I was going to make on the domestic market and our supermarkets an…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which I know is of concern to his constituents in Cavan-Monaghan. On 8 May, I held a TB summit with key stakeholders where discussions were held on the most effective ways to mitigate the impact of bovine TB on farm families and reduce herd incidence and spread of the disease. The backdrop to this meeting was the need to address the deteriorating bovine TB disease levels. Herd incidence increased from 4.31% in 2022 to 6.04% in 2024, which was a 36% increase in th…

The engagement I had on this and all other proposed actions with the stakeholders will feed into the draft proposals to help contribute to a more effective programme that protects farmers and their families from this disease impacting their herds. I will meet the farm organisations again later this week to discuss updated proposals on foot of our discussions. This has been a deliberative process since February and we have been back and forth. I have listened and taken on board many of the points and concerns that t…

There are two key priorities for me. I know the emotional turmoil there is with having a reactor – the impact it has on families as well as the financial impact. The two clear priorities I have is to ensure that those farmers and farm families that are currently affected or will be affected in the future by a bovine TB breakdown have a clear pathway out of that and that we ensure that fewer are affected in future. The scale of the challenge at the minute is significant and deteriorating, so it cannot be business as…

I am delighted the Deputy raised the point regarding the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, particularly as it is such an important support for our farmers and farm families. It is grant aid to farmers to build or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings, which will assist in making farms more resilient in the face of storms. In acknowledgement of the urgency of support required following Storm Éowyn, I opened a new tranche of TAMS 3 for a three-week period in March…

We are using TAMS to be as agile as possible. TAMS has seen a highly significant increase in drawdown because farmers see the benefit of it. On that support, and there is also support under TAMS for solar panels, which has seen significant drawdown for those with high energy bills and the ability to do so, the agility of the system has been so important in allowing us to respond in real time to farmers who are affected. I am mindful that many farmers availing of this will be able to draw down and get generators tha…

I assure the Deputy it has been looked at. It is a challenge and a source of great frustration for farmers that have not benefited. The farmers who have mainly benefited from solar panels on the roofs of sheds, and the TAMS support for it, have been those with high energy bills, especially dairy farmers when offsetting those dairy bills. Under state aid rules, using the TAMS mechanism, whereby farmers would be able to sell back into the grid, has not been a possibility for us. It comes down to the accounting at EU …

I am delighted to have the opportunity to do so. The CAP is absolutely critical. I wish the Deputy well in his role as chairperson of the joint Oireachtas committee on agriculture. I look forward to working with him and his colleagues in the term ahead. As Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I am working closely with EU institutions and my counterparts in other member states to influence negotiations on the next CAP. The CAP is central to the EU’s success in ensuring food security, supporting farm income…

In my engagement with Commissioner Hansen to date, I feel he is someone who gets it, both from his visit to Ireland in January and in his vision for agriculture in the different points he has outlined. He feels like somebody who understands the importance of the CAP for our farmers and food production system. The reason I clearly outlined my core priorities and those of Ireland regarding the CAP is to get them established early. To have them established earlier, I brought a memo to the Cabinet and got approval from…

There are two parts to this. The multi-annual financial framework, or the overall budget for Europe, will determine so much of the second part around the CAP. That is why the Heads of State and Government, including the Taoiseach, will have a key role to play in terms of engagement at this level and at the European Council. The Government has been very fair in articulating its priorities around protecting the CAP structure and the very positive roles played by Pillars 1 and 2. I have highlighted my concerns about r…

I thank Deputy Neville and the other Deputies present for staying up this late at night to raise very important questions. We are on the night shift here. This matter is very important. There is concern among farmers over the impact of tariffs. It refocuses everyone’s mind. We are so busy day to day on our farms that we sometimes forget that we export 90% of the food and drink we produce. When key trading partners make or propose significant policy changes it can quickly have a very big impact at farm-gate level. I…