Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I start my first Oral Questions as Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine by wishing Deputy O'Donoghue well in his role as agriculture spokesperson for Labour and Deputy Kenny as agriculture spokesperson for Sinn Féin. Deputy Mac Lochlainn, who has left because he has an engagement, and the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, will work on all things to do with fisheries. We look forward to having a constructive relationship, with them holding us to account and us doing our best. We will debate the issues that matter for the betterment of the farming and agriculture sector in this country, which is so important.

I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for his question. The economic sustainability of family farms is a key priority for me and for the Government. Sustainability is a three-legged stool, involving environment, economic and social aspects. If any of those is out of balance, the stool falls over. The economic stability is just as important to keep all three in balance. My Department closely monitors the trends in agriculture costs and prices, with the Central Statistics Office producing agricultural input and output price indices on a monthly basis.

Arising from geopolitical events, the economy generally has experienced significant price inflation in recent years, including inflation fuelled by supply chain disruption and rising energy costs. Agriculture was not immune from this inflation and, as a result, the agricultural input index peaked in November of 2022. It should be noted that costs have decreased by about 20% since their peak, but I absolutely acknowledge that that peak was very high as a result of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and the knock-on implications relating thereto. I acknowledge that they remain relatively high.

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