I thank all the Members for their detailed contributions and the great debate on not just the CAP but also the importance of the agricultural sector to our country. There was commonality in some of the points raised, which does not surprise me. There was also a variance that really shows the geographical spread and nature of our different farming systems. The one thing we all have in common is that even though agricultural activity and the scale involved, no matter what part of rural Ireland you are in, can be diff…

Stop it.

I acknowledge Deputy Aird's first contribution in the Dáil. It is a great honour and privilege to have him as a colleague here. We first served together on a regional health forum with the HSE back when were we councillors. To be serving with the Deputy here now is a great honour and I look forward to working with him. I do not doubt his passion in representing the people of Laois but also representing those in the agricultural community, which he has raised here as well. I am absolutely committed to working to imp…

I thank the Deputy. The climate action plan has provided a pathway for reducing our land use, land use change and forestry emissions since 2021 and commits to the implementation of reduced management intensity on a portion of Ireland’s drained organic soils. This is a relatively new area of work in Ireland, with much uncertainty and complexity. If we are to reduce emissions from drained peat soils, it is important we consider how this might be achieved. Those at the workshop referenced by Deputy Aird included peopl…

I reassure Deputy Healy-Rae that the GAEC 2 proposals will not have negative impacts for farmers. These baseline elements were agreed as part of the CAP strategic plan in 2021. Ireland had a derogation in 2022 and 2023 while we put a proposal together. We are the last remaining country in Europe to make a proposal in this space. We would have been in breach since 1 January 2025 if we did not do that this year and I am not willing, as Minister for agriculture, to subject the State or our CAP funding to potential fin…

-----and have new drainage in line with existing national planning legislation.

It has nothing to do with that.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. To reassure her, the Government cannot be any clearer on our position in relation to the Mercosur proposals. We clearly outlined it in our programme for Government. In two-and-a-half hours of debate here in the Dáil last Thursday, I discussed it at length and put clearly on the record of this House our concerns and our opposition to that in that forum and how we are working with other like-minded countries who share those concerns as well. I have raised it in Bru…

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his elevation to his very important role. I look forward to working with him in the Dáil term ahead. I congratulate him and his family on a very prestigious honour. I welcome this opportunity to speak to the House on the importance of agrifood to the overall Irish economy. In a week in which the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, has published his vision for agriculture and food, I believe it is a very timely debate and discussion to have i…

I join the Deputy in extending sympathy to the Coleman family. I also extend heartfelt sympathies to all of the community in Galway who have suffered significant losses. I am mindful of the impact of Storm Éowyn and the impact it had on agricultural buildings, as the Deputy outlined. In many instances, buildings have been completely flattened. In that space, the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, grant is available to allow farmers to construct new buildings. I am looking for some flexibility to be i…

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for raising a really important issue. I thank her for her good wishes at the start. This is a topic that is a real bugbear for farmers. If they are caught in this, the frustration is palpable. I will go through the detail on this in a minute. Before I do so, I want to respond to the Deputy's point about the frustration with the overall scheme, especially the frustrations of those who have got caught up in the complexity of the system. I understand the significant challenges for those who…

The Deputy has raised a number of different issues. I have been over in the west of Ireland meeting a number of farmers affected by the storm. Many of the farmers we are discussing in terms of ACRES have been impacted by the storm in a range of ways. We stand ready to support them. Initially, we are getting their power and water back but I am conscious that this debate was about ACRES and I want to give clarity on the record in that regard. The year 2023 was a challenging for this brand-new system, which was ambiti…

I too welcome Kevin and say céad míle fáilte. He is very welcome and I hope he will enjoy his visit. I also acknowledge Tony and his years of public service to the State, both here in the Oireachtas and in An Garda Síochána before that. Public service takes many different forms. We thank him very much for his contribution to the State and wish him and his family a long and healthy retirement. I am particularly proud of the programme for Government because, for the first and only time in my political career, I was a…

At this first opportunity since my elevation to the Cabinet, I thank everyone in the House for their good wishes. I look forward to working with everybody on all sides of both Houses of the Oireachtas to deliver for our crucial agriculture, marine, food and drink sector, which is so important to our overall economy. The agriculture sector has been significantly impacted by Storm Éowyn due to prolonged power and water outages. The first priority was to support farmers in working to ensure we got their power and wate…

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2024, copies of which were laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 3rd October, 2024. The horse and greyhound sectors are embedded in the social and economic fabric of our country, and that of rural Ireland in particular. Successive governments have acknowledged the significance of both industries and have supported them through legislation, policy initiatives and the provision of funding. This suppo…

Some are more equal than others.

I thank the Deputies for their contributions on this important topic. I will start by answering some of the points raised. Deputy Kelly queried the mechanism around this debate and, to put on the record, in summary and further to my earlier statement, in order to allow the Department to provide the moneys allocated in budget 2025, it is necessary to comply with the technical requirement under section 12(13).

That is why we are here and doing this. I want to return to the broader point raised by Deputy Kelly, which a number of his colleagues in the Labour Party raised previously, that maybe we should take some of that money off and that there are other sports-----

That is a point I picked up. I know some of Deputy Kelly's colleagues in the Labour Party previously have said the money should be taken from this fund for other sports. It misses a broader point. The Government does not treat horse or greyhound racing as a sport. I am not a Minister with the Department of sport; I am a Minister with the Department of agriculture. For very good reason, the horse racing or greyhound racing industries come under the Department of agriculture because they are just that. They are indus…

Budget 2025 will provide much needed support and certainty to farmers. Across the country, farmers are housing animals, sowing crops and making plans for the winter ahead. They have been through a year marked by difficult weather. The start of the grazing season was delayed, with dairy, beef and sheep farmers left to play catch-up. Back-to-back wet sowing seasons made planting crops extremely difficult. On a positive note, input costs for feed and fertiliser eased slightly from record highs. Through this period, ou…