Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As Deputy Griffin knows, these issues and challenges have been very much on the Government's mind in recent months, both at an Executive level and also among our parliamentary party members. It is something on which the Deputy has also engaged very closely with the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, and me, and we will continue that engagement.

The measures introduced in recent months have been thought through to try to deliver support to farm families in the best and most effective way possible in a way that supports them from a cost point of view, helps underpin their farm incomes but also, very importantly, delivers for the agrifood sector in terms of productivity. We will continue to reflect very closely on this as we come towards the budget at the end of September. We are assessing closely what the emerging and continuing challenges are.

We are working closely with the national fodder and food security committee, which I met as recently as yesterday. I asked the committee to come back with further assessments with regard to how we could support and grow our tillage sector in particular, which is important in the context of the Ukrainian grain supply challenges. I look forward to working closely with Deputy Griffin and everyone across government to continue to support our farm families in the coming months.

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