Results 4,301-4,320 of 4,382 for speaker:Martin Heydon

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I hope the Deputy always expects a good answer, not just to one question. I thank him very much for raising the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES. The scheme is very important. I accept that there are challenges in regard to it for some farmers. ACRES is the flagship environmental scheme provided under the 2023-27 CAP strategic plan, with €1.5 billion in Exchequer and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I did not say that.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I did not say that. The Deputy should not attribute comments to me about staffing issues. I have been very clear here; we have had a very significant challenge with processing and working through all of these issues. Some farmers were not paid on time. When I came into this job on 23 January, 14,500 farmers who were due to be paid had not been paid because of challenges we had in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I believe we have made progress. I cannot be any clearer; I will not rest until every last farmer is paid. I will continue to push my officials and push the system as hard as possible to work through those last issues. The last issues are also the most difficult. To be at 99%, 97% and 94% of payments through the different cohorts is significant progress. We have made a commitment that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. As she will be aware, the independent Agri-Food Regulator, established under the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Act 2023, performs two key functions: it enforces the law on unfair trading practices, and it performs a price and market analysis and reporting function. The regulator has, since its establishment at the end of 2023, been...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I want to do this as quickly as possible while also being respectful of a process that involves consultation, engagement with all sides and me listening to the concerns of the industry. The industry has concerns over how the information could be distorted by competitors abroad. The regulation applies only to our domestic market and we export 90% of the food and drink that we produce. These...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: Section 12(3)(d) of the Act allows the regulator to seek data impacting on price and margins from businesses within the agricultural and food supply chain. The data include, but are not limited to, prices paid and received and margins. This answers the Deputy’s question in this regard. I do not want any suggestion to land that the Agri-Food Regulator is not able to operate. It...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Animal Diseases (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: The overall response to TB is to address all elements of its spread. There are three key contributors: wildlife, its control, and the interaction of wildlife with bovines; cattle-to-cattle transmission; and residual transmission in the herd. As we know, herd incidence has increased from 4.3% in 2022 to 6.04% in 2024, resulting in a 36% increase in the number of herds restricted between...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Animal Diseases (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: If a badger is examined and tested and is found to have TB, then for its own sake it needs to be culled as well as to stop the spread of the disease to other badgers, bovines and others within the community. Vaccination has a role to play but the vaccination process we have used to date has not worked to the same extent. I will be very clear. There are three causes of the spread of this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Animal Diseases (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: A series of my proposals would be around changing how we deal with the current vaccination approach. The current approach has been vaccinating without testing the animal. We can now test a badger and have a result within about ten minutes. There are challenges to that on the bovine side. Where an animal tests positive, for its own sake and the sake of everyone else in the sett and the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Solar Energy Guidelines (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this point on behalf of Deputy O'Connor. Deputy O'Connor has spoken directly to me on this point previously regarding his concerns in Cork. The programme for Government has committed to introduce planning guidelines for solar farms and to provide certainty in the development of solar energy. Issues regarding planning fall under the remit of the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Solar Energy Guidelines (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I accept those valid points and the importance of the planning guidelines committed to in the programme for Government. It is why we have that commitment in there. That is a matter for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to introduce. As regards dairy farmers and concerns about the availability of land, there is huge pressure on availability as it is, be that for...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Solar Energy Guidelines (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: For fear anyone mistakes me for the Minister for climate or planning, I am the Minister for agriculture. I accept the points that have been raised in that context but I wish to put on the record I was very supportive of planning guidelines for solar in the programme for Government talks. It is the right thing to do; we need a bit of structure on that. I understand the concerns raised by...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: The CAP Strategic Plan 2023–2027 aims to improve the economic, social and environmental sustainability of Ireland's agrifood sector. It does this by supporting viable farm incomes and enhancing competitiveness by strengthening the socioeconomic fabric of rural areas and contributing to the achievement of environmental and climate objectives at national and EU levels. The CAP...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I am happy to provide the Deputy with the table in written form as result of this question. It lists the total expenditure per county for all CSP schemes, the number of beneficiaries and the average per beneficiary. It is quite even. The Deputy's county, Tipperary, saw total expenditure under all CSP schemes of €112,091,305 to 6,652 beneficiaries. The average per beneficiary...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Common Agricultural Policy (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I wish the Deputy and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle the best of luck in the hurling at the weekend. As a proud Kildare man, we look forward to competing for the Liam MacCarthy with both teams next year, after our win in the Joe McDonagh Cup. The Deputy can stand up here and talk sentiment, mention the word "conglomerates" a number of times and so on, but the sentiment he displays is not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Household Incomes (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: 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...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Household Incomes (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: I have to disagree with the Deputy, respectfully. I understand the point he makes about the impact on small-to-medium-sized farms. As regards ACRES payments, however, 99% of 2023 farmers have been paid fully, with 97% advance payments in respect of 2024 and 94% of the remainder having received their balancing payments for 2024 as well. It was not good enough when I came in. I put a lot of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Household Incomes (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: TAMS has been hugely positive, so when the Deputy suggests that the Government is failing, I disagree with that. TAMS has seen a massive ramp-up and uptake and drawdown of money, and I continue to support that. It is important that the message go out there that if a farmer is considering buying equipment beforehand, he or she is not guaranteed that it will be covered if ranking and...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Agriculture Schemes (3 Jul 2025)

Martin Heydon: The Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS 3) provides grants to farmers to build and/or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings. Overall, the scheme has proved very popular, with an unprecedented level of applications received. The Farm Safety Capital Investment Scheme is a measure in TAMS 3, which provides an incentive to farmers to avail...