Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on the 2024 agriculture, food and marine budget introduced by me and my colleagues, the Ministers of State, Senator Hackett and Deputy Heydon.

My goal for budget 2024 was to support our farm and fishing families. This has been achieved with vital livestock schemes secured, environmental schemes bolstered in funding, new infrastructure measures introduced to support farmers impacted by the changes to the nitrates derogation and support provided for the development of our fishing sector and coastal communities. This is in addition to rolling out the largest ever Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, strategic plan amounting to €10 billion.

A total of €1.942 billion has been allocated to the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine for coming year. It is important that I clarify the difficult budgetary constraint under which this was achieved. This 2024 figure adjusts to reflect the discontinuation of more than €240 million in Brexit Adjustment Reserve, BAR, funding, as the deadline for all expenditure under that fund is December of this year. While this BAR funding was predominantly expended in the fisheries sector, in 2023 it also supported the genotyping programme for our livestock herd and the national beef welfare scheme for which I have now secured national funding to continue.

Budget 2024 demonstrates my unwavering commitment to our beef and sheep farmers. I have provided targeted supports of more than €118 million for the livestock sectors. I will continue to provide the €200 per cow payment delivered for our beef suckler cows and calves in 2023. I intend to provide an additional payment for sheep farmers which, together with the current sheep welfare scheme payments, will result in a payment equivalent to €20 per ewe in 2024. This will be the highest payment ever provided to our vital sheep sector. Beef and sheep farmers will also be well placed to benefit from the enhanced supports for environmental measures and the supports available for farmers transitioning to organic farming. My officials are currently working through the details of what is possible with this funding and further details will be announced in due course.

The budget will result in more than €700 million spent in support of farm families in their efforts to tackle the challenges of climate, biodiversity and water quality in 2024. The changes to the nitrates derogation have been the cause of much concern to farmers across the country. I have promised to support farmers in this transition and this budget will finance the first step in ensuring that our derogation is protected in the next review. Improving water quality is pivotal to achieving this aim. To support farmers in their efforts to improve water quality through investment in on-farm nutrient storage, a number of new targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS 3, measures are being introduced. My first action will be to engage with the European Commission to secure changes to the TAMS 3 investment aid scheme to allow the introduction of a separate investment ceiling for all farmers building additional storage facilities on farm, beyond regulatory compliance. This support will be available to all farmers at the prevailing rates of 40% and 60%, the higher rate being available to young farmers and female farmers.

In addition, and in support of water quality and efficient nutrient use, I will also seek approval to introduce a dedicated support measure to provide 70% support for manure storage facilities on farms importing livestock manure under a contract relationship. To further assist farmers in this space, funding to support the hugely successful soil sampling scheme and the multispecies sward schemes is continued.

I have increased the allocation for the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, by €40 million bringing the total scheme allocation to €200 million. The level of interest in ACRES has demonstrated that farmers are clearly making a positive contribution in addressing a range of climate, biodiversity and environmental issues. After the unprecedented demand for places in tranche 1 of ACRES, I am delighted to announce that tranche 2 of the scheme will open for applications in the coming weeks. This will allow us to deliver on the Government’s commitment to have 50,000 farmers participating in the flagship environmental scheme.

Building on the additional measures, I have introduced in support of the tillage sector in recent years including increased support for protein aid, the introduction of the straw incorporation measure and the provision of a tillage incentive scheme under the Ukraine response framework, I am making €8 million available to support this important sector next year. This demonstrates my commitment to the sector and my support for the work of the Food Vision tillage group.

Over the lifetime of this Government, €500 million has been spent on the seafood sector. Over the past two years I have announced a range of schemes, worth €271 million, designed to support the seafood sector and coastal communities in overcoming the impact of Brexit. In December 2022, the European Commission adopted the Seafood Development Programme 2021-2027. The funding provision made by the Government in budget 2024 will enable this programme to provide further support to the sector over the coming years. The programme will ensure that the seafood sector will not only survive but generate economic growth and sustain jobs. The programme will also provide funding to State bodies that carry out important work in the marine environment to protect our coastal natural resources.

The programme measures, supported by the budget, will include capital investment on board vessels, marine environmental requirements, control work and investments in aquaculture, as well as support for young fishers, processors and the inshore sector, and a completion of the largest ever investment into our piers and harbours in the State.

Regarding agri-taxation measures, we have a taxation policy that supports the transfer of land to the next generation of farmers and the Government is committed to protecting this at all costs.

The agri-taxation measures announced by my colleague, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, will be key drivers of agriculture policy next year and will be of direct benefit to Irish farm families. I welcome the announcement by the Minister, Deputy McGrath, to defer the residential zoned land tax, RZLT, by one year to February 2025. While the RZLT is an important part of the Government’s commitment to increase and promote home building, genuine farmers who wished to continue farming their land were impacted. Having this issue rectified was an important request of mine for this budget. This deferral will allow for another annual mapping cycle to take place before landowners become subject to the tax and, therefore, allow a further period during which landowners and farmers can engage in the process and make a rezoning request to their local authority.

I also welcome that the Minister, Deputy McGrath, has agreed to my proposal to restrict long-term leasing relief so that it does not become immediately available to the purchasers of land. This will see the relief only become available when land had been owned for seven years which focuses the relief on genuine farmers, reduces the likelihood of speculation while protecting the support for farmers engaged in long-term lease arrangements. Further to this, the renewal of stamp duty consanguinity relief on transfers of farmland and the continuation of accelerated capital allowances for slurry storage for another two years is welcome.

These taxation supports align very closely with my Department’s policies in support of farmers to improve their environmental sustainability, generational renewal and farm safety. The renewal of the consanguinity relief for an additional five years promotes and encourages the lifetime transfer of farms, thereby enhancing generational renewal in the sector.

I am very much aware of the challenges facing farm families. The farm, food and fishing sectors are the lifeblood of rural and coastal communities and contribute enormously to prosperity and employment creation right across the economy. I am satisfied that this budget continues to support these vital sectors. I am working closely with the Ministers of State, Deputy Heydon and Senator Hackett, who will now give further detail on the budgetary measures in their specific areas of responsibility. Over the year ahead, we will continue to support our farm families and fishing communities in every way we can.

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