Are taoisigh accountable to SIPO?

Are taoisigh accountable to SIPO?

Hear, hear.

Where is the Deputy's leader?

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle might give me guidance on whether we should use the metric of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, on what it says about the Government’s confidence in the Minister and his policies with the fact that neither the Taoiseach nor the Tánaiste could remain in this Chamber.

For all of the bluff and bluster from Government Deputies, they cannot hide from the plain fact that its housing policies and its Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage are failing. Far from resolving the housing emergency, the Minister denies that there is an emergency at all. The emergency was not of the Minister's making, although his party played a starring role, but he has singularly failed to get to grips with it. On all the parameters that matter to real people, the figures do not lie. We have t…

I welcome the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and the Minister of State, Senator Hackett. The term “forgotten farmer” is used to describe those young farmers who had typically set up their agricultural holdings before 2008, who were under the age of 40 in 2015 but who did not qualify for the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, supports, as other young farmers did. Will the Minister outline his proposals to address that anomaly?

The Minister knows that I have been raising this issue with him since his appointment and I acknowledge that each time he has indicated that he is committed to addressing this issue. However, it still has not been resolved and I would like to know where the resistance is or why we have had these delays. In February 2021, he told me that he was "fully committed to addressing this issue in a way that is fair to this cohort of farmers under the next CAP". In May of that year, he stated: "The programme for Government c…

I will acknowledge that this is an anomaly that was around long before the Minister was in office. It is disgraceful that his predecessors did not resolve it. I acknowledge again that he has committed to resolving it, but for the farmers who are affected, he has yet to do so. I know that he has made statements on the issue in public, but we do not have the necessary clarity. There was no announcement in budget 2022 about how this scheme will be funded, yet, in January, just a couple of months later, the Minister le…

Many people were surprised to learn that between June 2017 and February 2020 there was a decrease of more than 18%, or 200,000 cattle, in the suckler herd. Does the Minister intend to introduce further measures aimed at the destocking of suckler cows and the ending of suckler farms as recommended by the food vision beef and sheep group?

We would have a much better agricultural policy and overall discussion if the Minister was willing to engage on issues. Through our suckler herd we produce some of the most sustainable beef in the world. The associated carbon emissions are half of that coming from South American beef. For the Government to even contemplate a forced reduction of Irish suckler cattle while the Mercosur trade agreement remains on the table would send a bad message to rural communities and would undermine climate action measures. Such …

As the Minister said, we have 80,000 suckler farms. They are a crucial economic driver in many rural communities. They are not the most profitable but they are often the most economically impactful. Before considering any suckler reduction scheme, will the Minister commit to considering the potential impact that such a scheme would have on the land mobility service by driving up the price of remaining agricultural land and what that could do for generational renewal? Will he ensure a full audit of factory-controlle…

I am incredibly disappointed that we are at this point. We have a Bill that should be unifying legislation. We support it in principle. Amendments have been tabled that, in and of themselves, are worthy of support. The difficulty is not so much what is in the Bill but what is glaringly missing, particularly the absence of a statutory duty of candour, from the Bill. Before this debate, I read some sections of Vicky Phelan's book, "Overcoming". I will read a short section of that which is from the period when this fi…

Yes.

Yes.

This is incredibly important legislation. It is extremely important that we get it right. It is welcome that the Minister has expressed willingness to engage and hear the concerns that have been raised. I have to say this has been too long coming. Regardless, we should all accept that if this takes an extra number of weeks to get a Bill that will pass unanimously through the House with the enthusiastic and full backing of all Members this is what we should absolutely do. I have to say I never had the privilege of m…

Completions are down.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

I move amendment No. 2: To insert the following after "13th October, 2022": "; that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine shall: — conduct a full review of the Exchequer funding to the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund (Fund) with a view to examining: — the social and economic impact of the Fund, including the efficacy of the Fund in supporting the development of both sectors, the broadest cohort of those involved in both sectors and rural communities; — whether the use of the Fund to subsidise prize fund…