Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

I thank Deputy McGuinness for raising this point. The statistic referred to by him is from the recently published Teagasc national farm survey, NFS, 2024 preliminary results. By way of context, in 2024, the NFS results were based on a sample of 818 farms with a standard output of €8,000 or more per annum, representing almost 88,000 farms nationally. Some 65% of farms in Ireland are represented in the survey and 96% of the livestock population is held on those farms.

In 2024, average family farm income increased by 87% to almost €36,000. Year-on-year improvements were recorded for all sectors, with particularly strong results for sheep, dairy, tillage and cattle rearing. As the Deputy notes, 42% of farms were categorised as economically viable. This represents a 15% increase on 2023 and is one of the highest annual viability outcomes on record. When considering this categorisation, it is important to recognise that the NFS includes full-time and part-time farms and that the viability of farms varies across farming systems. Just over one third of NFS farms are classified as full-time farms and two thirds as part-time farms. Many of these part-time farms rely on off-farm income. In 2024, in addition to the 42% of farms categorised as economically viable, the NFS categorised a further 34% as sustainable.

The Government continues to provide strong support to the sector, including through €9.8 billion of Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, supports and targeted sectoral payments. In 2024, income growth and, subsequently, viability were driven in part by additional support payments, which had a particularly positive impact on sheep and cattle systems. Across all farm systems, the average value of direct payments represented 60% of family farm income, with CAP support payments typically accounting for a larger share of income on cattle and sheep farms, and Pillar 2 payments a particularly important income source for smaller dry stock farmers.

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