Victor Boyhan (Independent)

I thank Senator Andrews for his courageous journey. He walked his talk. It is great to see him back. Clearly, a few days away from home grub is good for the old diet; he is looking well. I ask him to mind himself. It was a huge undertaking. I think I speak for most people in this House in saying he can be assured of our support. It is traumatic. There will be days of unwinding. There will be recurring nightmares of the horrific issues he has seen and encountered. He is brave and courageous. I am proud that he is one of our colleagues in the Seanad. He not only brought a light to the issue, but he brought a light to himself and to the Upper House, something I am very proud of.

I am going around with the IFA budget 2026 document. One would think it is a bible. Everyone stops and asks what I am doing with it; the budget is over. I want to acknowledge and thank the IFA. While I have had many differences with it from time to time, it put enormous work into its pre-budget submission. Its representatives engaged and spoke to many of us about issues. I want to highlight one issue that it has highlighted today which is that tillage funding falls short of political commitments. It is not about a blame game, but we have a serious crisis in tillage. The IFA has worked hard to highlight that and highlight the economic benefits to our rural communities, to the wider community and to the international community, and the challenges around it. The budget announcement of €50 million for tillage growers was short of the €65 million it sought. Can we have a debate about tillage? Tillage is critical to this country. There are many other crops we should be looking at. Premier wheat for use in distilleries has been mentioned. I call for a serious debate on the tillage sector. I acknowledge the enormous work the IFA did in its pre-budget submission. All is not over and we will have other opportunities for it to continue to engage with us. That is part of the democratic process. I wish it well.