Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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103. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the steps he is taking to fulfil the programme for Government commitment to direct a proportion of the proceeds of the carbon tax towards climate-focused measures in the agri-food sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25140/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government recognises the special economic and social role that agriculture plays in Ireland, but also commits to the creation of schemes that will encourage and incentivise farmers to farm in a greener and more sustainable way. This is with the aim of developing a sustainable Irish agricultural sector that protects the environment and aligns with emerging consumer sentiment, while benefiting farmers and rural communities

The Programme for Government commits to the allocation of €1.5bn in projected carbon tax receipts over the next ten years for this purpose. The first step in meeting this commitment was in Budget 2021 through the allocation of €20m in anticipated additional carbon tax receipts for the creation of pilot environmental programmes. This was supplemented with the continuation of the €3m in funding that was provided for agricultural programmes from carbon tax receipts in 2020, bringing the total funding for carbon tax supported measures in the agricultural sector to €23m in 2021.

These funds will be used to create an innovative, results-based pilot scheme for farmers who improve the bio-diversity and carbon management of their land, by undertaking specific actions which they report directly based on the results generated from their actions.

The use of carbon funds in 2021 was detailed in the Budget Day publication "The Use of Carbon Tax Funds 2021" which continues to be available on the budget.gov.ie website. Carbon tax funding in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine is allocated to a specific sub-head, B.13, against which progress on spending the allocated funds can be tracked.

Questions regarding the operational details of the pilot programmes should be directed to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine.