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

The point is well made by Deputy Canney and is well understood on the side of the House. I wish to give the Deputy the comfort that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, is meeting and continues to meet regularly with stakeholders to discuss the impacts, particularly of the Ukraine crisis and the increases in costs associated with that. He has tasked a national fodder and food security committee with the preparation of a response to the emerging crisis in feed fodder, fertiliser and other inputs. He is developing contingency plans and advice to assist farmers in managing their farm enterprises. Within the Department the Minister has also established a rapid response team because when we announce packages of support, we obviously want to see them rolled out without delay. That is happening. Farmers can also plan on the basis of knowing what schemes are there. Teagasc has been doing a great deal of work directly on the ground with farms across all sectors to assist where we can.

I assure the Deputy of the paramount importance of the agriculture, farming and horticulture sectors to us to support jobs, farm incomes, our rural communities and our regions. We will continue to do that. I encourage the farming organisations to continue their very constructive engagement with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine on this issue.

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