Will the Minister step up to the plate?

That is not what we are saying and the Minister knows it.

The Minister is purposely deflecting. Nobody is suggesting that we should be in breach of environmental law.

The Minister is deluded.

I commend the Rural Independent Group on bringing this motion to the House and for giving us an opportunity to debate what are very important issues, particularly in respect of the cost of living crisis that we have been discussing in some detail and that affects probably all workers and every family across the State. It is important to recognise that there is an extra burden on many rural families, in particular farming families. Of course, whether you live in a urban or a rural area, you are faced with the challe…

Workers and families are facing a cost-of-living crisis. As people in this State face what are among the highest rents, mortgage interest rates, insurance costs and childcare costs in Europe, they are also burdened with ever-increasing electricity, heating and fuel costs. Rather than supporting families to meet these burdens, the Government has responded by increasing them further through the imposition of carbon taxes. Bizarrely, the package to address the cost-of-living crisis - a package that was discussed for m…

It will not make it worse.

There are no alternatives in County Monaghan. There is no public transport-----

Hear, hear.

There was already a crisis before Covid.

There has been much discussion in recent times around price inflation. For well over a year now, farmers have been speaking about the challenges they have been facing with regard to rising input costs. Fertiliser costs in particular are having a devastating impact. There are challenges across the board in that feed and energy prices are rising drastically and almost all input prices have negated any stabilisation or increases in the prices farmers receive. I would like the Minister to outline this morning what the …

There is nothing in what the Minister said that will allow me or any other Deputy to convince the farmers that have been in touch with us that the Government understands the challenges they are facing and that it is taking action to resolve them. Essentially, the Minister has highlighted very well what the problem is, but he has not outlined sufficiently what the Government is going to do about it. Letters to the European Commission are well and good and are important in regard to fertiliser costs, but my question …

Of course we need to improve efficiencies and reduce dependency on artificial fertiliser. However, we need solutions in the here and now. I asked the Minister about the Brexit adjustment reserve fund and he did not mention it in his response. I will give him another example of how the Government can set out a clear sign of its intentions. In May, it is the Government's intention to increase the carbon taxes again. That increases virtually all of the input costs for farmers. People might think farmers are exempt fro…

Will the Minister answer the question?

What is the Government going to do in May? Is it going to increase the carbon tax or not?

I ask the Chair to direct the Minister to answer the question.

Recent changes to the organic farming scheme both in payment rates and terms are to be welcomed. Beyond those, however, what is the Government doing to increase participation in education related to organic farming and market opportunities for our organic project as well as the existing Government conversion targets?

It needs to be put on the record once again that our current organic rates are abysmal. They are actually embarrassing for a country with a proud reputation in terms of the production of good quality food that is produced to the highest standards. The target rate of 7.5% relates to an EU average from several years ago now. We know the EU average is already way beyond 8.5%. I want to nail down this particular target of 7.5%. My question asked for our target rates for 2025, 2027 and 2030. The CAP strategic plan, whic…

In order for targets to be achieved, annual subtargets need to be set. We need to know what the long-term vision is for this sector. As well as direct investment in supporting farmers, which the Minister of State knows we welcome, we also need to see greater ancillary investment, particularly ring-fenced funding for both Bord Bia and Teagasc. We need to have advisers and researchers for those making the conversion. We also need to provide them with the assurance that when they produce the high-quality organic food,…

We spent a lot of time discussing how the Department would get to the point of issuing 100 licences per week. Around September, the Department started to hit that target on a regular basis. That was never supposed to be the upper limit but it appears it is, as a target has been set for 5,200-odd licences to be issued this year. The lack of ambition and imagination within the Department is frustrating. We need to do much better than we are currently doing. The Minister of State said she is contacting people who have…