Paraic Brady (Fine Gael)

The Minister of State is very welcome. I welcome the capital budget for agriculture. The Minister, Deputy Heydon, has secured an additional €170 million in budget 2026. That is a 9% increase, from €158 million last year to €170 million this year, bringing the Department's budget to over €2.3 billion. This includes a capital programme of €335 million. The Minister, Deputy Heydon, got what he has worked for after listening to local representatives and people from the farming sector. This is one budget of five in which he intends to deliver support to key areas. The greatest priority, of course, had to be TB. We have seen how this has risen in the sector over the past number of years and affected the livestock industry. I am glad to see that the TB programme has gone from €85 million last year to €157 million in this year's budget. That is a sizeable increase in the budget and it shows that the Minister and his Department officials have listened to the people on the ground. This is a sector we have to address and it will be addressed with that allocation.

On improving water quality, the Minister has secured an extension to the acceleration capital allowance programme for the next four years, which is hugely welcome. He is also allocating €88 million to the TAMS capital investment scheme for 2026. I welcome that. He has secured €280 million for ACRES for 2026, an increase of €20 million on 2025. We have asked the farming community to buy into ACRES and environmental schemes. We have seen the havoc the scheme caused last year and I would welcome an increase in that this year. It was oversubscribed last year, and I welcome that the Minister has allocated more money to the scheme this year, where we need to meet our targets.

The challenging sector for the Minister this year was, of course, tillage. He has secured at least €50 million for the tillage sector in 2026. He will consult the stakeholders in the programme and design a strategy for this operation. Importantly, the Minister has secured the same allocation as last year for the livestock scheme, to the sum of €131 million. I welcome that we will not touch the livestock or sheep sectors going forward. I thank the Minister of State for his time.