I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 16, inclusive, together.

The Government has placed agriculture and rural development at the heart of its work and the programme for Government sets out our ambitions to do more to grow our agrifood sector and see our rural economy and rural communities thrive. Government has mainstreamed agriculture across the Cabinet committee system to ensure that agriculture and rural policy are always factored into wider considerations and Government action. With this in mind, we established the Cabinet committee on water quality, which has been instrumental in our efforts to secure a derogation on the nitrates directive. Likewise, the Cabinet committee on European Union and international affairs has been a forum for closely monitoring CAP developments, other issues to do with agriculture and Europe, and shaping our positions from a negotiating perspective. The Cabinet committee on economy, trade and competitiveness and the Cabinet committee on climate action, environment and energy have also regularly discussed agricultural issues, particularly with regards to fully unlocking the economic potential within rural Ireland. As with all policy areas, agriculture issues are regularly discussed at Cabinet and there is regular cross-departmental engagement on issues that affect agriculture and our farming communities.

Budget 2026 saw €2.3 billion allocated to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. This was an increase of €170 million over the 2025 budget. This Government commitment is showing very strong results. In 2024, agrifood exports were a record €19 billion and estimates for 2025 show even further growth, to €21 billion. This highlights the global orientation and exceptional quality of Irish produce and, when viewed in the context of international trade uncertainty, is all the more impressive.

This success directly benefits Irish farm families. In 2024, the national farm survey showed that average family farm income rose by 89%. The figures for 2025 are not yet finalised, but indications show that it could see a further 30% growth. This is real progress and is the outcome of years of investments by the Government and, above all, by farmers themselves. By way of example, one can look at the success and implementation of the ACRES programme, which is part of Ireland's Common Agricultural Policy strategic plan. This work is relevant to multiple Cabinet committees and will see €1.5 billion allocated, with 60% funding from the Exchequer and 40% from the European Union budget. That will have a huge impact on our rural environment and will deliver an income support for up to 50,000 farm families. The Government will build on this success and the hard work of our farming families to ensure a thriving, resilient and sustainable agrifood sector.

When it comes Ireland’s priorities for the next CAP, our position is very clear and remains unchanged. We want a CAP that gives sufficient certainty and stability for farmers, fishers, and rural communities, allows for policy tools tailored to the Irish agrifood system and provides sufficient funding for farmers and rural communities. As the Deputies will be aware, the proposed CAP structure post 2027 seeks to consolidate existing measures into a single policy framework. The Government will be going through the proposals line by line to work towards our CAP priorities and assess the practicality of the Commission’s proposed approach, given the associated governance and conditionality requirements. I also note that the European Parliament has expressed dissatisfaction with the proposed merging of CAP elements with other funding structures and streams.

Ireland will advocate for maximum flexibility, retention of the full toolbox of measures, ring-fenced funding and a CAP framework that supports competitiveness, sustainability and food security. Ireland will play an influential role during our upcoming Presidency, acting as an honest broker in progressing CAP discussions. The Minister, Deputy Heydon, and all of Government will continue to engage actively at European Union level.

A huge number of rural roads in Carlow-Kilkenny have been absolutely destroyed in the past couple of weeks due to the torrential rainfall and serious flooding in the area. This has resulted in serious potholes and, in many cases, complete disintegration of road surfaces, making them impassable. In some cases, there are potholes so big you could lose a small child in them. I am asking the Taoiseach and the Government to provide additional once-off emergency funding to those counties which have been so desperately affected by the storm.

There are lots of roads that are in brutal condition, some still impassible, and they need complete reconstruction. At the weekend, when driving in places like Drummin, St. Mullins, Spahill, Glynn, Tomduff, Ballyglisheen and Knocksquire, I saw that all of the roads had been seriously damaged. Many of these are local roads with high agricultural volumes but these routes serve as the only route for many rural residents. They are vital for vulnerable residents. They are school bus routes and there are also access requirements for milk lorries and other essential services. Could additional emergency funding be made available separate from the additional funding for roadworks?

A huge range of significant issues are putting pressure on farmers. They include bluetongue, the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, the Mercosur deal and Bord Bia. Last week, the agriculture committee questioned the Bord Bia chair on Brazilian beef imports. There are very strong views on the issue and farmers are really upset about what they saw happen in the weeks leading up to the committee meeting. Time and again at the meeting, the question came up about discussions and getting people around the table, face to face and talking. Is there some way of getting the various interest groups - the farmer organisations and Bord Bia - around the table to get progress on the current impasse?

I raise the matter of compensation ceilings currently in place for tuberculosis, TB, reactors. I am acutely aware of the emotional and financial impacts of bovine TB on farmers and their families. An outbreak of TB can be soul-destroying. The on-farm market valuation scheme is the principal compensation measure available to farmers who experience a TB outbreak in their herd. The scheme aims to compensate farmers up to the open market value of the animal. The compensation under the on-farm market valuation scheme is payable subject to ceilings. If the actual value of the animal exceeds the ceiling, the farmer is at a loss. I know of families who were left out of pocket, in some cases involving thousands of euro. We must do everything possible to help these farmers and ensure they are adequately compensated. Due to the increased cost of the bovine TB programme in recent years, the Government's focus should now be on reducing the levels of the disease and, if at all possible, eradicating it. This will reduce the impact on Irish farm families and reduce the cost of the programme, which has risen year on year and stood at over €121 million in 2025. The Government must do everything possible to eradicate this disease.

The Taoiseach rightly referred in his response to the massive scale of our food exports. Those food export markets have been hard-earned. There has been massive investment by the State over the decades, and by farmers, in building up a top-class, world-standard food industry. We have animal husbandry and food production to the highest standard. That is why we have been successful in so many markets throughout the world.

As Deputy Moynihan said, there is a very urgent issue to be resolved, that is, the ongoing dispute between farmers and Bord Bia. It must be resolved immediately because we do not want the good standing of our industry worldwide to be damaged in any way.

As the Taoiseach knows, one of the most important things during Ireland's Presidency of the European Union is finalisation of the multi-annual financial framework, MFF. As we all know, the Common Agricultural Policy is essential to ensuring a secure supply of safe food for the citizens of Europe and it is also an essential income support for farmers. That CAP, post 2027, must be properly resourced.

Agfood.ie , a revamped agrifood portal, was launched by the Minister for agriculture at the National Ploughing Championships last September. Dual-factor authentication, which has become a part of that, is proving quite difficult for a number of farmers who have contacted me, namely, farmers with poor phone coverage or those who have given their phone number to a son or a daughter to help them log in to the system. It is a very good system. It helps with compliance announcements, information from the Department, payment information and projected nitrates information. However, it is making the portal more inaccessible for a lot of farmers who have someone else logging into the portal safely. For them to do so, we need to look at other login methods that would make this technology more accessible for those helping farmers.

In regard to the community involvement scheme, CIS, and the local improvement scheme, LIS, funding for those in rural areas is absolutely essential, as the first speaker said. I have lanes in north Tipperary and they are so big, I could lose Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere in the potholes at the moment.

Shocking. That is an awful slur on Deputy Cleere.

The issue of generational renewal is critical in the context of the forthcoming CAP negotiations. I know it has been raised in the discussions with Commissioner Hansen. The Taoiseach will be aware that almost 40% of farmers are now aged 65 and over, whereas fewer than 5% are under the age of 35. He will know that Macra na Feirme has been seeking, as an essential part of the next CAP, fully funded succession schemes. I know in my own case that both Wicklow Macra and Wexford Macra are very active on these issues. It is critical, if we are to safeguard rural communities and the future of the traditional family farm, that we have fully funded succession schemes in place under a fully funded CAP. I would like the Taoiseach to give a commitment that this will be a priority in the discussions on the next CAP.

The script the Taoiseach read out has no relation at all to the reality for farmers. If the backbenchers ever manage to overthrow him, I think there is a Booker Prize for fiction in him when he retires.

Thanks, Deputy.

Some 1,400 farmers are leaving agriculture on an annual basis, with 8,400 farmers having left since Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael got together back in 2020. Another 5,600 will have disappeared from the land by the time this Government is finished. That is the stark reality facing farmers at the moment. The Mercosur deal is simply going to accelerate that process. Farm incomes will be lower, there will be rural depopulation and the food security of this country will also be threatened. The idea that we have Mr. Murrin importing beef that would likely fail the standards Bord Bia is using to audit farmers across the country is incredible. This week, we in Aontú found out that the Department of education is paying for food under the schools food programme that is coming from Brazil. Is it any wonder there is a collapse in farm incomes and numbers in this country when the Government is acting against the best interests of farmers?

The Government's credibility and its relationship with farmers have been damaged significantly. In regard to its efforts on the Mercosur agreement, it only really opposed it when it was clear the deal would be passed. The Government failed to lobby any MEPs or member states-----

Sorry, Deputies.

These are the facts. I appreciate that, as a backbencher, Deputy Cleere must be frustrated-----

Deputy Lawless should ask a question because his time will be up.

-----with the direction of Government but the facts are the facts.

In relation to Bord Bia, the Taoiseach's attitude can only be described as smug, lacking understanding and showing an unwillingness to engage with farmers. There is a significant impasse at the moment and the Government's attitude is one of "Hands off, there is nothing to see here" when the reality is that farmers are hurting because Bord Bia pushed them for standards and, meanwhile, its chair is importing beef. How many tonnes of Brazilian beef are coming into this country on an annual basis? How many tonnes of poultry are coming into this country?

Commissioners Hansen and Serafin were here last week. We all had an opportunity to engage with them. We had them in at the EU affairs committee. The fear I have is that they did not rule out the ability, the capacity and, maybe, the willingness to introduce provisional application of the Mercosur agreement before the European Court of Justice carries out its due diligence of the legality of the deal. Our big fear relates to imports of 100,000 tonnes of Brazilian beef and 180,000 tonnes of poultry that will not be up to the standard of European and, in particular, Irish farming. I want to know what the Government is going to do to make sure there is not provisional application. This is happening in the context of the issue with Larry Murrin. I do not think any of the backbenchers could have been particularly happy with his answers at the agriculture committee. Mr. Murrin has to go. There is an unacceptable conflict of interest and it is doing damage to Irish farming.

I do not know as much about the Mercosur deal as my colleagues in the regional group but the facts are that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the regional independents gave a commitment in the programme for Government to reject the deal in its current form and to work with like-minded governments.

To get back to Dublin, I want to speak about the Clontarf area and the north city arterial main, a major semi-State project. We all saw in The Irish Times last week that there is huge confusion because the Baldoyle Road is to be closed for nearly a year. In regard to major projects, what level of information should be guaranteed to public representatives? I went to the open night. I asked if I could take photos of the traffic plans and I was told "No". We held a general election in north Dublin to represent the people and when a TD asks for photos of traffic management, they should be allowed get those drawings.

The Marine Institute recently released a report on the devastating impacts of the use of tangle nets on many endangered species in our waters.

This report looked at what was happening in our national park. Incredibly we see tangle nets are killing angel shark which is on the brink of extinction. A consultation was done by the Department of agriculture on a sustainable crayfish management plan in 2021 but I can find no other information about that. There was no follow up and no report seemed to result from that consultation. It is important that we move away from tangle nets but we need to do it and support fishers as we do so. It is important that we start protecting these endangered species. Can the Taoiseach tell me if he knows where that consultation is or will he look into it for me?

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett. Excuse me. Deputy Paul Murphy.

Indistinguishable.

Last week at the public accounts committee we heard that the Department of agriculture last year killed 7,735 badgers. It killed over 60,000 badgers in the course of the past decade even though they are supposedly a protected species. They are first trapped in snares causing internal organ damage, ruptured bladders and disembowelment. Pregnant and lactating badgers are killed leaving their cubs to starve to death. Snaring badgers is banned in Scotland and Wales. Two-thirds of people want it banned here. We are the only country in Europe which funds the large-scale slaughter of badgers. The truth is they are scapegoats for the spread of bovine TB. We have a programme that is killing more and more badgers yet the incidence rate goes up and up. It is over 66% at this stage. The EU refuses to fund this programme any more. It means the public is funding €100 million a year. Will the Taoiseach commit to end the mass slaughter of badgers? We need to move to 100% vaccination and have implementation of biosecurity measures to actually deal with the problem.

I thank all the Deputies for raising the broad spectrum of issues that they have. In response to Deputy 'Chap' Cleere, I have spoken to the Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien. Without question, very significant damage has been done to quite a lot of local roads in areas of severe flooding over the past month. I was in Aughrim recently with Deputy Byrne and saw at first hand the damage done to the roads there. In fact, some of the roads came with the flood. The situation is very serious. The officials who were with the Minister said they are awaiting returns from the councils in respect of an assessment and an estimate of the damage that has been done. I will talk to the Minister again to allocate funding to those roads in the context of the weather damage that has been done. They are waiting on the rough estimates from the councils for the cost of restoring the roads that have been without question damaged as a result of the flooding. I will keep in touch with the Deputy on that and with other Deputies who are concerned.

Deputy Moynihan raised the range of issues that face farmers at the moment. He is correct. I welcome the offer of dialogue from the Minister for agriculture to the farm organisations, the IFA, the ICSA and others, in respect of the Bord Bia issue as well as the full gambit of issues that face farming at the moment. I have been in touch with some of the farming organisations. In my view there is a need for dialogue to chart a way forward for Irish agriculture and farming out of the current controversy that focuses on the core issues. The single biggest issue this year is the CAP. Be under no illusions that when the dust settles on the current row, it will be the CAP. There are other issues but the CAP is the one I am most concerned about now. There is protecting the derogation, blue tongue and the various assurance schemes and the imposition and the burden they represent for farmers. I know Deputy Smith has raised this as well. He was involved in the first ever major food plan. Was it Harvest 2020?

Food Harvest 2020.

Food Harvest 2020 was the first major strategic document which set the roadmap for the development of the food industry. I think CAP and the budget are key but also the need to get into a dialogue pathway with the organisations. I would encourage the organisations to respond positively to the correspondence that the Minister issued to them today in respect of those issues. In my view, that cannot happen quickly enough. I will come back to that issue.

Deputy Cahill raised the issue of TB. It is a very significant issue. The Government believes its efforts to tackle the ongoing challenge of bovine TB is having a positive effect. The herd incidence has started to reduce in recent months. In June the Government agreed to introduce additional measures to the bovine TB programme following extensive stakeholder agreement. The bovine TB action plan was launched in September underpinned by scientific research and veterinary expertise. The aim of the action plan is to reset the programme in the context of putting in place measures necessary to tackle the current disease situation. Those measures are targeting both transmission between wildlife and cattle, which does happen, and transmission between cattle. There is a heavy emphasis on vaccination in the action plan. The budget has also been substantially increased to €157 million this year, 2026, to focus on driving down it through the implementation of the measures laid out in the action plan itself. I will talk to the Minister in the context of what Deputy Cahill asked for in terms of whether something can be done about the compensation levels that farmers are getting at the moment and the degree to which a substantial number are out of pocket. Nothing is more devastating than to be told a herd has TB.

I think I dealt with Deputy Smith's issue. Without question, we have a top-class food industry and we have got to protect it. The issue more generally is that the global supply chain is key here. We are not an island on our own. It is complex. If we want to supply markets in Europe, and people are buying our food in Europe, or Middle Eastern or Asian companies or whatever, they too will set terms that will govern the basis on which we sell them food and very often contingency of supply is one of those conditions, so this is not simple and we need to be careful of the message we are sending. So far, we have penetrated markets all over the world - in Asia, America and Europe - because of the quality of our food, including our dairy produce, beef, poultry and fish. We want to maintain that level of high-quality exports.

In response to Deputy O'Meara, I will talk to the Minister about accessibility to new technology. He said the log in method in that authentication process is too difficult and it is causing enormous problems. I will talk to the Minister in respect of this and revert to the Deputy. We will see what we can do on the funding. The funding may be stretched to cover a pothole that would cover Deputy Cleere but we will certainly do our level best to stretch it.

Deputy Byrne raised a key point. We want generational succession to be part of the Common Agricultural Policy. Our concern at the moment is that, as drafted, the seven-year budget is about 20% below what the previous seven-year allocation was.

That is the issue at the moment and we should be focusing on that collectively with the farming community and Government because people will be quite annoyed if we do not try to improve that somewhat. I am concerned about it from my discussions, last week in particular. We have a lot of work to do on it and we also have to work with other member states to try and get a higher budget for CAP. That would include within it proposals on farm succession, which is a big issue. It is about certainty and clarity, which is why the derogation was important. Young farmers want certainty. It also the adoption of new technology. I suspect it is a lifestyle issue in that people want a life as well. Farming is a 24-7 occupation with a lot of responsibilities. There is a lot of bureaucracy, obligations and pressure. Therefore, we need to create that roadmap for young people showing that there is a future and viability above all else for young farmers. That will be key.

Deputy Tóibín suggested I would be in line for the Booker Prize. I wish I could ever be as good a writer as to get the Booker Prize.

You are very good at fiction.

The facts are that exports of food products have increased exponentially. They have done very well in high-quality markets across the world. Incomes have increased over the last two years. One of issues with farming is that it is cyclical. There have been proposals on taxation. Deputies Tóibín and Paul Lawless are the doomsday couple.

The language switched dramatically from incredible to terrible, to the world is going to collapse at any moment.

Just listen to farmers.

Listen to your backbenchers.

Please, it is not a back-and-forth.

The point I would make is that it is difficult; it is a challenging world. I think Deputy Lawless said farmers feel ignored. Let us consider ACRES, comprising €1.5 billion, with 60% of that from the Irish Exchequer and 40% from the European Union. Admittedly, some of it is funded by the carbon tax but it provides incomes to 50,000 farmers.

However, they want to make a living from farming; they do not want social welfare.

The Deputy asked the question; he should now wait for the answer.

The Deputy never mentioned the derogation. We are the only country in European Union that has a derogation from the nitrates directive. We voted against the Mercosur deal but we negotiated for safeguards, just as we will negotiate for an increase in CAP.

Hear, hear.

There is not an increase in CAP. CAP is reducing.

Calm down.

Deputy-----

The next CAP has a 20% reduction.

I ask the Deputy to stop talking.

Did the Deputy not hear me saying that? We have to negotiate it up. The only way we can do it is by negotiation, just as we negotiated on Mercosur to get safeguards in place. Our MEPs got safeguards in place, better than they were a year ago, because the likelihood was that if one of the bigger states went for Mercosur, the blocking minority would go.

The Taoiseach's objective-----

Deputy, stop.

The safeguards were very important to get done.

The Taoiseach's objective is to improve the Mercosur-----

The Deputy asked his question and this is the answer.

No one is smug at all about anything. To be frank with the Deputies, the Members of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael know an awful lot more about agriculture than the two of them together.

The Taoiseach is not listening to them.

Please, Deputy.

Deputy Ó Murchú-----

They said it here a few weeks ago.

Please, Deputy Lawless-----

I want to reply to Deputy Ó Murchú-----

If possible.

-----who is one of the more consistent Members in the House. He is here consistently every Tuesday, to give him his due. He said that he met the two Commissioners and so did I. One of the issues I had was the issue with the CAP and the need to impress on those Commissioners that the CAP is not where we want it to be in terms of income levels for Irish farmers. My sense of that conversation is that we have some distance to go to get the Common Agricultural Policy limits up. The Commissioners were reticent on other issues, including the issue the Deputy referenced.

The provisional application.

They did not say that to me. That is probably a matter higher up the scale.

Deputy Heneghan somehow got the adaptation measures in Clontarf into the agriculture debate.

Flood defences.

Flood defences are a serious issue in its own right. I do not know why the Deputy is not allowed to take photos. Of course, he should be allowed to take photos. I presume he took them anyway. I would say he did, given form. I do not know; I will check it. There should be full transparency. Is the Deputy saying the flood scheme is not being allowed? I do not know, but there should be full transparency in these matters. There are significant issues there with flood relief, and there have been for quite some time.

I agree with Deputy Whitmore. I read that report in the media about the tangled nets in our waters. That is not good enough and cannot happen. It will do irreparable damage from a biodiversity point of view. I will talk to the Ministers. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, is concerned about it. I will talk to the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, as well.

Badgers.

We are not there yet, Deputy.

I am coming to him. The bulk of the plan is on vaccination. The scientific advice is different. The advice is-----

The bulk of it is not vaccination.

The Deputy has asked his question. Will he please-----

Most of it is not vaccination.

It is not a back-and-forth.

There were more killed than vaccinated last year.

There will be a hell of a lot of vaccination this year. The budget has gone up significantly to €157 million. There will be vaccination and there will also be the wildlife measures because there is transmission. It is not as simple as the Deputy has articulated.

In response to Deputy McGuinness, farmers are not ignored. I just spoke about ACRES, the derogation and the various funding mechanisms we have taken in to support different farmers at different levels. We have been supportive of farmers, from sheep to tillage to sucklers, right across the board. We are not ignoring anything. I mentioned the nitrates directive and so on. The bigger issue for us is we want to continue to export. Sinn Féin opposed the Canada trade deal. We are exporting food to Canada. I do not get the logic of opposing a trade deal that helps Irish farmers.

Hear, hear.

Mercosur, Taoiseach.

Sorry-----

I am talking about CETA at the moment.

I was talking about-----

We opposed Mercosur.

Deputy, wait for the answer.

While I cannot verify it, one of the Commissioners told me last week that a few food producers went out on an EU mission to Mercosur countries, showing that some people will see if they can get opportunities there. On CETA, we did well and the embassy in Ottawa in Canada did a fantastic study on the economic benefits of CETA for Ireland and for the Canada-Ireland trade relationship.

A couple of thousand-----

Deputy, it is not a back-and-forth. He should listen to the answer, please.

It is Brazilian beef. I referenced it several times in my question.

Sorry, I am just going to say it once to be clear.

No, but the Deputy says we are ignoring-----

If the Taoiseach does not give the Deputy the answer he wants, that is not my problem.

Why is he talking about Brazil?

It is because I mentioned it in my question.

I already told him that we voted against Mercosur.

This is not the way this forum, Taoiseach's Questions, is meant-----

We got safeguards in. We are not ignoring farmers. About a month ago, I went to the AGM of the IFA, just before this latest round. There is no sense of ignoring. In fact, it was quite an agreeable, good conversation. I listened, as did the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Ministers of State, Deputies Dooley and Healy-Rae. The was no reference to the Bord Bia issue, which may not have surfaced at the time. There was no sense of people being ignored, whatever else the Deputy may say. That kind of language is rubbish. It is just exaggeration.

The Taoiseach is now in the realms of waffle. Seventeen minutes-----

Sorry, Deputy McDonald; you did not have a question.

It is just throwing out words that mean nothing. There was never any sense that farmers were being ignored by this Government, nor could there have been.