Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste is correct that the families of farmers are all members of society and they benefit from some of the changes in the budget, but it was promised that there would be a ring-fencing of a certain proportion of the money from the carbon tax for agriculture and we are being told farmers will get it but not yet. My question still stands, which is whether the Department is ready to roll out programmes so that this money can be spent.

The Tánaiste states there was a 2% increase. I am not an expert on looking at budgets, but when we look at the appropriations-in-aid, in fact, the spend in 2022 is 2% less than the spend in 2021. There has been an increase in administration, animal welfare and other areas. When it comes to farmers having money in the back pocket, there is nothing specifically for them in this budget.

My final point relates to carbon tax. If we look at the ESRI report, it tells us on page 22 that rural households face significantly higher prices than urban households when it comes to carbon tax. In the same budget, we see that what was supposed to be ring-fenced is not going back to the sector.

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