Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I can assure the Deputy that protecting farm family incomes is a priority of Government. Close to €10 billion in total, between EU and Exchequer funding, will support around 120,000 farm families over the next CAP period between 2023 and 2027. We have a farming and food sector that we should be proud of. It is an indigenous business and supports family businesses. We must ensure that continues, and it will. Budget 2022 provided €1.9 billion for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. That is in addition to almost €1.2 billion in EU funded direct payments received annually. The Deputy is absolutely right. There is no question that the war in Ukraine has exacerbated issues for farmers. The Deputy mentioned the cost of fertiliser. Farmers were previously paying between €250 and €300 per tonne of fertiliser. That cost is upwards of €1,000 per tonne now. We are acutely aware of the impact that those cost increases have on our farmers and indeed our farming community.

The Deputy mentioned certain announcements. We will see these announcements being implemented. I engage with farmers in the horticulture sector in my own area of north Dublin on a regular basis. They require support. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has announced a number of measures amounting to around €35 million in very targeted supports, including €20 million in two packages to the pig sector worth up to €90,000 per farm family, €12 million for the tillage sector and an initial €3 million for the horticultural sector. I absolutely recognise the difficulties that our farming families and communities have. The Government will continue to support them. We want to ensure that the close relationship between farming organisations and the Government remains and that we work very closely together through this period to see us through the other side of it. The jobs that are supported in this sector are crucially important for our regions and for rural Ireland, in particular. To be fair to the Government, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is engaging on the issue and was in Brussels earlier this week for a meeting of agriculture ministers. He has been very open and has been bringing forward targeted schemes. We are not saying that those schemes will initially resolve all of the issues there, but we are open to looking at other areas where we can help. That is why the engagement between the farming organisations, the sector, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and Government is crucially important. I assure the Deputy that we will continue to do that. I know the Deputy has been a very strong advocate on behalf of our farming communities and organisations.

Officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are continuing to engage with officials from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on funding of the fodder scheme, for argument's sake. We envisage the terms and conditions of the scheme being finalised shortly. It will then be published and rolled out.

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