Victor Boyhan (Independent)

I welcome the Minister. I am particularly pleased because I am from the same neck of the woods as he is, just outside Kilcullen, Narraghmore, County Kildare, so I know of his farming expertise and I note and acknowledge the great pride of his community on his appointment as Minister. I also acknowledge his officials here today. Before I ask one or two questions, I want to touch on a few things that he has touched on in his presentation. Before I do that, I want to say it is important that our engagement here is always robust but respectful. We have had many great debates in this committee in the last five years I have served on it, but at the end of the day, at heart, it is all agriculture - horticulture, the mushroom sector, forestry, equine. We sometimes forget equine. I like the point the Minister touched on in his speech that rural community and rural development go hand in hand with agriculture. Sometimes we forget that. I also acknowledge what he says in his opening statement, on the first page, that he intends "to communicate a fresh understanding of what it is farmers, fishers, foresters and the food industry contribute to Irish society and the economy". That is a very good start in kicking off a new relationship with a new Minister and a new committee.

I want to touch on some issues as regards CAP. The new CAP will be very important. The Minister said in his response earlier that Ireland is scheduled to assume the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2026. Of course, he will play a leading role in all that if he is still the Minister, as I hope he will be, and I do not anticipate he will not be, in chairing the Council meetings and steering relevant legislation to agriculture. That is important. As regards CAP, I received communication from CAP Network Ireland.

The Minister will also be aware that the United Nations has designated 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer, which is timely, and he will play a critical role in all this. That is a challenge. Why am I saying that now, in 2025? I am saying it because, like assuming the Presidency, there is a very significant lead-in time in this regard, and I want to use some of my time on this agriculture committee to really champion women in agriculture. I am particularly pleased to see some women now on this committee. We did not have many women on the previous committees. I warmly welcome that and I say that genuinely. I want to acknowledge two pieces of work. The first is Women in Irish Agriculture, a report commissioned by the National Rural Network. There is huge substance in all that. There is also the action plan in respect of the national dialogue on women in agriculture, which the Minister's Department will be very familiar with. I hope that they will be central themes of the Minister's Ministry because it is really important that we support women in agriculture and that we happen to have this United Nations designation in 2026. We will also have the Presidency in 2026. I ask the Minister not necessarily to answer that now but to take away that request or call or ask that he place a sharp focus on that. He might even initiate some engagement later in the year back to this committee to see how we can build stakeholder involvement in that and how we can put that to the fore of agriculture in our deliberations in the Oireachtas and on this committee because that is really important.

I do not want to say much more. I do not really have a lot of questions to ask at this juncture. I just wish the Minister well. Agriculture is vast and has many opportunities. I suggest that we give equal importance to our food production, our horticulture sector and our forestry sector because that is really important. The Minister might make a few comments on that before I come back with one other question to him.