Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It has been a challenging spring for all farming sectors. That has come on the back of a very difficult autumn last year. We have just come out of one of the longest and most unprecedented wintering periods we have seen for a long time, lasting almost seven months from last September until now, in many instances. That has made it very difficult for livestock farmers, in particular. Farmers have been very supportive of one another in local communities and neighbourhoods, which is important. That has been crucial because farming can be quite solitary, in particular when people are handling the pressures themselves within the farm gate. I acknowledge the support farmers have given to one another and the challenging times they have gone through.

As a Government, we have worked to try to support the sector to come through this period. I moved to pause all inspections, for example, so that farmers would have one less thing to be concerned about until 22 April. I tasked Teagasc with the role of co-ordinating support and linking farmers who had fodder available with those who needed it. I acknowledge the role of the fodder and food security committee, under the chairmanship of Mike Magan, who worked closely with Professor Frank O'Mara and Dr. Stan Lalor from Teagasc. They provided support to farm stakeholders in terms of monitoring the situation.

In the past two or three weeks, I introduced a transport subsidy to move fodder from one part of the country to others where it is needed, which was important. Most recently, I made a commitment to the tillage sector, which is of particular importance in the Deputy's locality. I committed to €100 per hectare for all farmers who put seed in the soil for harvest 2024. That is to help with confidence for farmers, given there is a very narrow planting season and a higher risk to yields and profitability than at other times, and to support farmers through that.

The Deputy mentioned the importance of cash flow. I agree and have engaged with the banks on that. They have been proactive in terms of asking customers to come to them when they are experiencing cash flow problems and have put facilities in place to provide support.

I agree that certainty and predictability around payments is important. We are one of the best, if not the best, performing countries in the EU in terms of delivering payments early and on time to farmers. Last year was the first year of a new Common Agricultural Policy and all of the schemes were new. It is more complicated and difficult to provide payments in the first year of a new scheme as opposed to subsequent years when we are rerunning schemes from the first year.

Last year, I set out payment schedules in March for the end of last year to give farmers a line of sight and predictability as to when they will receive those payments. They were adjusted from between one and four weeks from previous years to reflect the fact that extra work was required to deliver on those dates. We delivered over 90% of payments on the dates we said we would, which was important. As we get into the second year of the scheme, those payments will return to normal dates and we will be very focused on delivering on those dates.

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