Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

As a female farmer, I can say that there is not equality. That is the problem. There is not equality on the ground. Female farmers own 13% of the farms. There are cultural elements there and farms are not being left to girls, daughters and nieces, but it is difficult. There are amazing female farmers out there but it is difficult to be a female farmer. When one goes to the mart, it is 95% men.

It can be a difficult place to go to. One can go to a knowledge transfer group. That can be challenging. I have spoken to women who have gone to knowledge transfer groups who do not go any more. One element of that is that we are putting together female-only knowledge transfer groups because that is what we have heard female farmers would like. For us not to respond to what we hear from female farmers would be us not standing up for them. We are trying to make this a more equal space, and those are some of the many mechanisms we are trying to put in place to do that.

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