Results 1-20 of 170 for farm speaker:Martin Heydon

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Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Agriculture Industry (15 May 2024)

Martin Heydon: I thank the Deputy for raising a very important topic. At any meeting with farmers the length and breadth of the country, they raise over-regulation, red tape, bureaucracy and all of the other work that takes them out of their fields and sheds and into their offices and kitchens, and all of the paperwork that goes with that. As a farmer, with my neighbours in Kildare, I know this is a...

Weather-Related Supports for Farmers: Statements (Resumed) (24 Apr 2024)

Martin Heydon: ...a bit about the challenges and opportunities we face in our agriculture sector, which is so important to the Irish economy. This spring has been unlike many others. There is a saying that farmers need to be optimists or they would not still be farmers, but the optimistic streak in our farmers has most certainly been challenged this winter and spring. Farmers have been battered by the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Policies (22 Feb 2024)

Martin Heydon: ...the 100% stock relief for young, trained farmers as well. The approach of the Government and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been to support the younger generations to take farming on and to incentivise this happening, like the support provided by the young, trained farmers element of the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, and those other supports...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Safety (22 Feb 2024)

Martin Heydon: I share with the Deputy in offering condolences to the families of those affected in that awful tragedy on Tuesday. There are other initiatives. I see my role in farm safety as not just involving the physical form of farm safety but the mental health and well-being of farmers. My Department continues to support research into farmer health and well-being. The DCU-led farm health...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Safety (22 Feb 2024)

Martin Heydon: Absolutely. Promotion is a key part of my role. In the children's farm safety initiative in schools, in conjunction with Agri Aware, we are using the positive pester power of children. The Deputy is well aware, as I am, that when children decide they want something, they do not leave you alone until they get it. Instead of me pleading with my uncle to get on top of a very dangerous load...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Policies (22 Feb 2024)

Martin Heydon: I thank the Deputy for raising what is a critical issue for the future of farming and agriculture. Supporting generational renewal is one of our main priorities as Ministers. It is also one of the great challenges facing farming, not just in Ireland but across the EU. Worldwide, the average age of farmers is higher than everyone would like it to be. For this reason, the Common...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Farm Safety (22 Feb 2024)

Martin Heydon: I thank Deputy Griffin for raising a really important issue. Due to the prevalence of farm safety issues and farm workplace incidents, farmers are the most likely workers to lose their lives. Farming is the most dangerous profession in Ireland. A farmer is seven times more likely to lose their life in a workplace incident than any other one of the more than 2.5 million workers in this...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Martin Heydon: ...the House that the rationale behind the establishment of this new element of TAMS was to further develop gender equality throughout the agriculture sphere, to encourage more capital investment on farms and, in many instances, to recognise the role that many females already play on farms throughout the country, in the day-to-day work and in managerial decision-making positions. For...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Schemes (22 Feb 2024)

Martin Heydon: I thank the Deputy Kerrane. We keep a constant review on all elements of TAMS. It does evolve. There are no plans at present to change eligibility criteria for the women farmers' capital investment scheme or any other element of TAMS, but TAMS 3, as were previous TAMS, has been monitored and followed through with regard to how we might change it. With regard to the point on the work...

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Financial Resolution No. 4: General (Resumed) (11 Oct 2023)

Martin Heydon: Budget 2024 is an opportunity for this Government to ensure that we deliver for farmers and for rural Ireland. In my own areas of responsibility, I have put a particular focus on addressing the three legs of the sustainability stool, namely, economic, environmental and social. I will continue to build the networks to improve farmer safety, health and well-being with a dedicated fund of...

Culling the National Herd: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (28 Jun 2023)

Martin Heydon: ...and facilitating the sector to contribute to our national ambitions on climate in a fair and balanced way. That is a road the sector is already travelling and I have seen first hand the steps many farmers are taking to improve their farms and reduce their carbon footprint and their environmental impact. I recently attended an event in Kildare put on by the local Irish Farmers'...

Culling the National Herd: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members] (28 Jun 2023)

Martin Heydon: ...consensus with some reservations on the key actions required. Contrary to the narrative that is being pushed from one side of this House for a long time, Government does not want to take cows off farmers or force a cull of the national herd. We brought together all stakeholders in the dairy sector. The group came up with a report that was published in full last autumn and was put on our...

Our Rural Future Policy: Statements (14 Jun 2023)

Martin Heydon: ...the agrifood sector has played in delivering employment opportunities in rural communities. I have visited many of these businesses. Tirlán's new plant in Belview will deliver 80 jobs and support 4,500 farm families who supply the cheese plant. Dairymaster's manufacturing headquarters in Causeway, County Kerry, employs almost 400 people. Driving across the beautiful hills of north...

Nature Restoration Law and Irish Agriculture: Statements (31 May 2023)

Martin Heydon: ...to set out what Government does to ensure the concerns of rural and coastal communities around the nature restoration law are addressed. This is an emotive area, as we saw today, for those farming on peat-based soils. Thus, it is important we dispel some of the fear around this proposal. Since the publication of the commission's proposal last year, Ireland has been working with other...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mental Health Policy (25 May 2023)

Martin Heydon: ...to the climate challenge. We all need to call out any commentators in the environmental area who seek to paint everything as black and white, who seek to paint people to blame or not to blame. Farming is making a huge contribution through making its activity more environmentally friendly into the future, improving water quality, reversing biodiversity loss and all those measures....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mental Health Policy (25 May 2023)

Martin Heydon: I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. We probably do not shine a light on it often enough. Mental health is a critical issue facing all of society, including farmers. Farmers are particularly vulnerable to pressures owing to the issue of isolation and all the pressures that come with the role. I am aware of the UCD study. I have met its authors because I was keen to...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Employment Rights (25 May 2023)

Martin Heydon: ...with a limited number of permits. The Department will carry out a review at the end of the growing season. This is much broader than that in the area of agriculture. I know that regarding dairy farmers in the calving season, there is a farm safety element. There is a shortage of labour and farmers need that support. Riders in the equine industry need to be freed up at certain times of...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Agriculture Supports (16 May 2023)

Martin Heydon: I assure the Senator that I understand the gravity of the picture she has painted. I, and everyone in the farming community, will not quickly forget the events during the foot and mouth crisis. It is estimated that the culling within the Cooley Peninsula impacted 48,744 sheep, 166 goats, 1,123 cattle, 2,908 pigs and 280 deer. Outside the Cooley Peninsula, it is estimated that 3,826 sheep...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Agriculture Industry (20 Apr 2023)

Martin Heydon: ...do it, they do so with a lower emissions output and improved water quality trends and impact on biodiversity. There will be opportunities for diversification for farmers in terms of using their farming enterprise to create alternative income from renewable energy. The role of producing food, be it cattle or sheep in their sheds, will continue to be the primary role of farmers but...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Brexit Supports (20 Apr 2023)

Martin Heydon: ...with hoggets crossing €7 per kg and lambs exceeding €8 per kg, it is heartening to see markets returning better prices than at the start of the year. To bolster the sustainability of sheep farming, my Department provides significant support to the sector under the CAP Strategic Plan, the CSP, both through a new targeted scheme for sheep farmers: the sheep improvement...