Pippa Hackett (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This is a budget focused on the environment, both in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and across Government. Since this Government took office in 2020 we have made huge strides in the organic sector. I am further backing this with funding of €57 million for organic farmers in 2024, which is more than 50% higher than the provision for organic farming in last year's budget. Since entering Government we have doubled the number of organic farmers and doubled the land area farmed organically. We are on track to hit our target to have 10% of Irish farmland under organic production by 2030. This is real money making a real difference to farm families, funding real change in the way we farm and in our environment. I will reopen the organic farming scheme to new applicants very shortly. Again, we will see the massive interest in this sector, showing that farmers want to produce food in a nature-friendly way and that Government will back them all the way. This Government is backing farmers, backing the environment and backing rural Ireland. Unlike the Opposition parties which, judging by their budget day contributions in this House yesterday, either do not understand or do not care, and failed to acknowledge farming and the significant role this sector can play in enhancing our environment and in rural Ireland. Sinn Féin managed a fleeting, token reference to farmers. There was not one word from the Social Democrats or the Labour Party on the issue.

Farmers the length and breadth of Ireland are playing their part in the green transition and the Government too is playing its part. The new forestry programme is the most ambitious in the history of the State. We are paying farmers more than €2,000 per hectare, tax free, every year for ten years to plant native woodlands of up to a hectare on their farms, without the need for a licence. We are backing farmers and foresters to be at the heart of our efforts to reduce emissions and improve biodiversity and water quality. We are paying 20 years of tax-free premiums to farmers, securing their future and that of their families. Again, this is real money, making a real difference to farm families, funding real change in how we farm and in our environment.

The horticulture industry is another vital part of our farming sector. We are backing growers with funding of more than €14.35 million for the year ahead. We will use this funding to support capital investment in the horticulture industry to deliver the national strategy for horticulture and to provide advanced payments to producer organisations in the fruit and vegetable sector.

European innovation partnerships, EIPs, as they are fondly known, have been another huge area of success during this Government's term. Locally-led results-based schemes are a win-win delivering for farm family incomes and for the environment. This is why I fought hard for the locally-led results-based model to form a key part of our cap strategic plan through the agri-climate rural environmental scheme, ACRES, co-operation projects. On top of the €200 million ACRES funding to benefit farmers in cooperation projects throughout the country next year, we will spend an additional €18 million in 2024 on new EIPs. This strong financial backing will support farmers to take targeted action at a local level to improve water quality on dairy farms, to protect and enhance habitats for breeding waders, to carry out trials on peatland farms and to support new EIPs under a call under project proposals early next year. Yet again, this is real money making a real difference to farm families, funding real change in how we farm and in our environment.

Soil health is vital for our very existence. The more we know about it the better informed we are to make the decisions necessary to preserve and regenerate our soils. We are putting nearly €9 million into the soil sampling and analysis programme in 2024. This will enable farmers to take informed targeted decisions at field level and ultimately reduce their reliance on chemical inputs, saving farmers real money and making a real difference to the environment.

Organic farmers have been sowing multi-species swards for generations and now it is going mainstream. Multi-species swards reduce emissions, they benefit nature and save farmers money. The Government is putting €2.5 million into multi-species swards in 2024. Again, it is real money benefiting farmers and making a real difference to the environment.

We have heard a lot of spin over the past two days from those in opposition. They are desperate to criticise a budget that is good for families, good for businesses and good for the environment. There is no doubt that budget day is an important milestone for any sector but announcing and allocating funding is only one piece of the jigsaw. We have a responsibility to use taxpayers' money in a strategically-focused way to bring about the long-term outcomes that we want to see. That is why we are taking long-term, targeted, strategic action to protect future generations both through the infrastructure climate and nature fund and through the future Ireland fund. These are decisions we are taking today to benefit tomorrow. Similarly, under my own remit, we are planning today to bring about the tomorrow we want to see. We have a national strategy for horticulture out to 2027. In regard to forestry, I published Ireland's forest strategy earlier this month out to 2030. The organic sector is working to build on the momentum that has begun. We are working with the sector on an updated national organic strategy which should be published early next year.

This is all in the wider context of a climate action plan that goes to the core of what this Government is about, namely, being the greenest Government in the history of the State. We demonstrated that in the programme for Government. We demonstrated it in the last three budgets and we have demonstrated it again this year. We will continue to demonstrate it as we continue on our transition to a greener, cleaner future for Ireland.

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