Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Fine Gael group, I join in the tributes to Noel Murphy and wish him well in the next stage of his career, whatever that might be. I offer good wishes to his wife Fiona and his children, who will have more time together as a family. Best of luck. I thank Noel for everything he has done over the last number of years in these Houses.

The sheep sector is hugely important to this country. It is distributed right across the country, particularly on but not exclusively on marginal lands. It is a sector that is under huge pressure at the moment. The farm organisations – the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association, the Irish Farmers Association and the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association - have put in a tremendous amount of work campaigning to provide additional supports for the sheep sector this year to compensate for the higher input costs and reduced prices that sheep farmers are facing. I know the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, has increased the payment under the sheep welfare scheme from €10 to €12 compared with the previous scheme and some 19,000 applications have been submitted. All 46,000 farmers in ACRES will benefit by being able to access that scheme, which will include a significant number of sheep farmers. The organic schemes are hugely important to the sheep sector as well. Notwithstanding that, there is a need for additional support this year as particular pressures are evident.

The Minister has asked the Food Vision sheep group to meet to discuss and monitor the market situation in the sheep sector. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Martin Heydon, who has responsibility for the development of new markets, will be visiting Washington in May regarding the promotion of access to that market. That was achieved last year, which was a benefit, and the Minister of State will be working with the industry to build relationships between customers and distributors.

I ask that the Deputy Leader invite the Minister to the House to discuss the very important sheep sector. I believe the Minister has a great commitment to the sector and I am confident something can be done for sheep farmers. I know the market has been volatile for the last while. There was a significant decline in French production in 2021, which caused a tightness in the market and resulted in prices increasing but, now, because of the Covid impact on the Asian market, more lamb from New Zealand and Australia that normally would have flowed to Asia has come to the European Union. Bord Bia has carried out and increased its promotional campaigns, which is important, and Easter is the normal period in which demand for and consumption of lamb increases. This is a very important sector and I ask that we have a debate on it.