Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Ceann Comhairle for including this important matter for discussion. The scale and horror of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is unimaginable. The conflict will have implications for years to come. Right now, one of these issues is the impact on global food supplies, especially in the context of grain. I commend the Minister of State on his actions to practically address the issue by encouraging farmers to grow grain but we are eager to hear how that will work. Like Deputy Burke, I mention the issues relating to food security in general. In my first contribution in this House, I focused on food security. Soon afterwards, in the early days of the pandemic, I focused on it again with the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine, Deputy Creed. It is clear that the Department did not learn from that crisis but perhaps it will learn from this one.

Despite having such an extensive agriculture sector, we still rely very heavily on food imports. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine's policies and choice of markets have forced farmers into a small number of areas, which has very much reduced the diversity of our produce and, ultimately, reduced our resilience. Prior to the crisis in Ukraine, there was already a real need to shift away from producing feed grain and to scale up the production of food grain for direct human consumption. There is a real policy need to scale up local and indigenous nature-friendly food production. Increased production of cereals, pulses, fruit and vegetables would make Irish agriculture more environmentally friendly, would support Irish producers and, crucially, would improve our food security and sovereignty.

Pivoting quickly to tillage would be a challenge for the sector, but it needs to happen now if we are to have a grain harvest next year, because , obviously, there are many unknowns. Existing tillage farmers often face price volatility and unfair trading practices. As a result, growers will need support. Can the Minister of State outline the support the Department will be offering and the steps it will be taking to underpin that support?

It seems as though it may have, but has the situation prompted a shift in the thinking of Minister of State, of the senior Minister, Deputy McConalogue, and of the Department towards ensuring food security? Deputy Burke mentioned fertiliser. Are we to move away from reliance on that?

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