Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I extend my congratulations to the Minister and wish him the very best of luck in his brief. No doubt, given his background in agriculture, he will have no need to get up to speed on many of the issues within the Department.

I rise today to talk about the Common Agricultural Policy, which has been very important to this country's development since we joined the European Union. I particularly want to touch on the aspect of LEADER funding for communities. In north County Dublin, it has been particularly important in supporting vibrant rural towns, villages and communities. In Lusk, it has been integral to developing the community cultural centre and over €500,000 was secured from LEADER to develop what is a huge asset for the community. Floraville Park in Skerries is a beautiful little park in the middle of the town and was instrumental in Skerries winning the Tidy Towns competition in 2016, so this was very important funding. Even the meals on wheels service in Balbriggan received funding, as did the St. Maur's GAA club. This funding has been very important in supporting communities, in particular rural communities by ensuring services and community facilities are as good in rural communities as they are in any other community in Ireland. Nonetheless, the simplification of the application process for funding is needed, as has been mentioned. I ask the Minister to look at that and come back with proposals on the delivery of that funding to communities.

Agriculture is very important for this country. As Senator O'Loughlin said, it is our biggest indigenous industry. Now that all of our other industries are under threat, we need to support the agricultural industry more than ever before. North County Dublin has many farmers, in particular growers. Potatoes, strawberries, cabbage, cucumbers and everything we can think of are grown in north County Dublin. It is important that this agricultural heritage is not threatened by the building of houses. While we know houses are required in Dublin, we cannot take up prime agricultural land or force farmers, through no action on their own part, to have their land zoned. Their land has been zoned and they are now under pressure to develop that land whereas they really want to continue to be farmers. They have farmed the land for generations and produce high-quality food. Food security is very important for us, now more than ever before. It is important to support those families to continue to deliver food to communities.

As colleagues mentioned, farm income is very important in ensuring the sustainability of farming families, as is allowing farming families to build a home on their own land. This is an issue that Fianna Fáil is passionate about and we want to progress it. We have all dealt with constituents who are struggling to find housing and although they have land, they cannot build on that land. That is no way to support rural communities. We want people who are invested in their community and have a connection with the community to be able to live there and produce the next generation of that community.

I wish the Minister the very best of luck in his tenure as Minister for agriculture. I look forward to engaging with him in the future, particularly as the negotiations go on and in his role as chairperson of the group when we take over the EU Presidency. I have no doubt in his ability to emphasise the importance of agriculture to Ireland.