Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was just looking at a few things earlier. The Department Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform had to take down a tweet stating that 2,500 beds had been delivered in the health service because it was not correct.

The headlines of the press release by the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine state that the budget provides €700 million for agri-environmental schemes. I will deal with agriculture. It is stated that there will be €100 million in supports for beef and sheep farmers and the €200 relating to suckler cows. I will go through it bit by bit. The €200 for suckler cows was announced this time last year. People had to apply last spring. We attended meetings all over the country. Farmers around Ireland need to know the €200 on the suckler carbon efficiency programme, SCEP, was announced last year. There is no new SCEP this year opening for next year. Any young farmer who wants to go into a scheme relating to suckler cows should know that there is no new scheme. Get that clear and ignore some of the stuff that is being printed in the media. Ewes were at €10 and are now at €20. I have done the tally. It is about €27 million extra.

The targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, was announced earlier this year. There is nothing new in TAMS other than the slurry storage scheme. The next thing they have up is €8 million in targeted support for tillage farmers. Unless my memory has gone wrong, that was announced a week ago. Why are they telling us again today that it is in?

On agri-taxation, we read during the week that three quarters of farmers are not making money. Taxation does not bother some of them poor devils.

I welcome the piece where big businesspeople cannot go in buying land but have to hold it for seven years before getting the tax relief. That is a tax relief so is not costing money.

The article refers to the expansion of the agri-climate rural environmental scheme, ACRES. I will go into this for the people who have been listening to talk about carbon tax for the last number of years. We heard that the new ACRES was to be a brand new scheme and that we would raise the carbon tax in order to ensure those people got good money and farmers would be brought into environmental schemes all over the country. We used to have the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS. At a time when we had no carbon tax and no great promises about what would happen, 47,000 farmers were involved in GLAS. There were a few more but they were thrown out of it. Under the new scheme, we took in 40,000 last year. You would imagine that if the Government was intent on being as environmentally friendly as it is talking about, then whatever came in this year they would open it for the same number. However, I understand that it is for 50,000 farmers - end of story. All the money being collected through the carbon tax, which was promised to this – bear in mind that under the last scheme there was no carbon tax – is now not going there, from what I can see.

On the soil scheme, everyone got their soil tested last year. That scheme was announced this time last year. Some €57 million has been announced for organic farming. I know there is extra money this year for organic farmers, but for conventional farmers - let me make it clear - what I have said is accurate.

The Department refers to €110 million being provided for an ambitious forestry drive. Last week, I attended a meeting of the agriculture committee. I was in Brussels a month ago. It was explained to us that the allocation was €304 million for the period 2023 to 2027, even though the Government said €1.3 billion. That €1.3 billion is for the ones that get it 15 and 20 years but, of course, the spin doctors hammered it all together. There is no new announcement on that.

The €6.5 million for dairy beef has been on the go for the past few years. Every farmer should know that it is not new money. There is reference to €5 million funding for the genotyping programme. I spoke to heaps of farmers earlier this year who had it done because it was in the budget from last year. The €8 million for capital investment in the food sector was there and the national strategy for horticulture money was also laid out before this.

Farmers have been betrayed. What has been put aside for nature and that is 100 times more than the €27 million – because that is basically what is in this budget – for the sheep sector, which needed it. We need to be honest with farmers and tell them straight out that this budget gives a clear reflection that they are not wanted by the Government because the Green Party is wagging its tail. That is especially the case if you look at this budget in the context of the Border, midlands and western region, as some Deputies before me have spoken about. A report was done and sent up here. Some of the Government’s own cronies were involved in putting it together. It explained the deficit in that area when it comes to balanced regional development. Did it get anything in the budget? Absolutely not.

What will pay the €27 million for the poor old sheep? I will tell Deputies what will pay it. The Government is driving the carbon tax up tonight and the fella making the bit of silage or feeding the cattle this winter with his tractor is screwed before a penny comes in for the ewe. The reality is that the ewe premium will be next October, a year’s time, before anything happens. This is the spin-doctoring that is going on. If we do the maths for the agricultural sector, we will see that people are going to be down money.

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