Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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89. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will commit to developing and implementing a comprehensive resilience and recovery plan now to ensure that rural and agricultural communities are protected when the next major storm occurs (details supplied). [55112/25]

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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Storm Éowyn exposed significant vulnerabilities in our national preparedness and recovery systems. Rural Irish communities endured prolonged power and communications outages while many small family-run farms were excluded from State supports due to restrictive eligibility criteria. We cannot continue to respond reactively to such crises.

Will the Minister commit to developing and implementing a comprehensive resilience and recovery plan now to ensure rural and agricultural communities are protected when the next major storm event happens?

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising what is an important issue. In the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, the Government increased its focus on storm preparedness and building resilience. My Department has been contributing to an extensive review of the whole-of-government response to the storm. The review, co-ordinated by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, is examining all aspects of the response with a view to identifying key lessons across all sectors.

A steering group and two subgroups, on humanitarian assistance and on critical infrastructure and essential services, have been formed, with membership drawn from across Departments, utility and energy suppliers, principal response agencies, the transport sector and local authorities. It is expected that the review will be brought to the Government shortly. The recommendations from the review will feed into the work already under way across government to bolster our preparedness for severe weather events.

A number of measures were introduced by my Department to assist those impacted by Storm Éowyn. The targeted reopening of the 2025 scheme of investment aid for the development of the commercial horticulture sector was facilitated to deal only with growers proposing investments in response to the storm damage. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, was actively involved in this.

A three-week tranche of the targeted agriculture modernisation scheme 3, TAMS 3, was opened in March to support farmers after Storm Éowyn, providing grant aid for backup power-take-off, PTO, generators and other equipment. The scheme supports new installations and will help farmers to become more resilient to future weather events by supporting investment in equipment that can restore power quickly after storms.

I visited affected farms in the Leitrim area in the immediate aftermath of Storm Éowyn. This was in my first few days as Minister for agriculture. I saw at first hand a dairy farm that had its power lines flattened by wind-blown trees from a plantation nearby. The farmer was able to continue to operate because of a PTO-driven generator. I recognised the importance of this and knew we needed to support more farmers to get these generators in the future. This was one of a number of practical responses.

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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I appreciate the Minister’s response in regard to horticulture, but I want to return to the reality facing many small farmers after Storm Éowyn. These people are on modest incomes, with nothing in reserve, yet they are central to food production and rural life. Many of them suffered genuine damage, including polytunnels torn apart and crops lost, yet they could not insure those structures, nor did they qualify for many State supports. They were effectively left to rebuild on their own despite being among the most vulnerable in the agriculture sector.

I am asking that future recovery and resilience planning explicitly include smaller family farms to ensure that when the next storm hits, they are not left behind. Can we have targeted supports for horticulture in particular and a dedicated mechanism that recognises and protects these vital small producers who keep our rural communities alive? I welcome what the Minister said in this regard. He is thinking along the same lines.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Absolutely. The Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, and I intervened with emergency supports for the horticulture and forestry sectors. The measures I introduced under TAMS and to change the rules around TAMS were all in response to what was an absolutely seismic weather event. It is really important that we learn from it because we know that, with climate change, we are likely to see more of these events. Although they feel like they arise once in a generation, unfortunately we have to prepare for the fact that they are going to become commonplace, and that is why the Deputy’s question was very well placed. It is about learning from these events. The scale of the damage to our forestry estate alone was enormous, as the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, will tell the Deputy. This is why grant aid is available under TAMS 3 for standalone solar water pumps and solar fencing, which operate off grid, allowing operation during power outages. This is another example of a practical intervention we are supporting to improve off-grid resilience should farmers be affected by a loss of power over a sustained period.

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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I appreciate the support. I might, in the future, talk to the Minister about this outside the Chamber. I thank him.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy.

I have one last point. To ensure farmers are more resilient in advance of weather events, I have announced plans to introduce grant support under TAMS for the replacement of roofs. Up to now, TAMS covered only new structures. A farmer could not modify an existing structure under it. Subject to appropriate professional analysis confirming that a storm-damaged structure is sound and that it is only the roof that has blown off, a TAMS grant will cover the replacement. That avoids having to knock a perfectly good shed instead of just replacing the purlins of the roof. This is another practical measure. In the past, we did not believe we would have to introduce it. We did not think these storms would be so ferocious. This confirms the reasons farmers are taking so many steps to reduce emissions and contribute to climate resilience, but we need to be practical about the impact storms will have. That is why I thank the Deputy for this question. I look forward to working with him on this in the future.