I thank the Deputy for raising what is a really important point around trade and trade promotion, which has become so pronounced in the lexicon of everybody and much more in the focus of everyone who pays even a cursory glance at what happens in agriculture. When other countries talk about tariffs and changes to our trade flow, it probably brings a focus in this country from people who do not always recognise that we export 90% of the food and drink we produce. It is highly sought after at home and abroad. Any interruptions to that trade have impacts. Given our dependence on the agrifood sector in regard to exports, trade and market diversification, it is a key priority for my Department and myself. Food Vision 2030, the shared strategy for the agrifood sector, reflects the importance of diversifying and developing new markets and new market segments for Irish food and drink products in the UK, the EU and wider international markets. Food Vision has a goal to increase the value of exports of sustainably produced high quality Irish food and beverages globally. Agrifood export value reached a record €19.26 billion in 2024. Bord Bia, a State body funded by my Department, is dedicated to promoting Ireland's outstanding food, drink and horticulture produce around the world. Its activities include participation in the food exhibitions and trade shows, digital campaigns, retail and restaurant promotions and various other trade promotions and events including campaigns around Saint Patrick's Day global events. Bord Bia also hosts inward buyer visits on an ongoing basis and meetings with key international companies. In April, I led a visit to the US in collaboration with Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland. During this visit, which included Washington DC, Kentucky and Chicago, I participated in 11 promotion events as well as key political meetings with senior US political representatives, including my counterpart, Brooke Rollins, the secretary of the US Department of Agriculture. I can also highlight some of my other responses in supplementary.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I thank the Deputy for raising those points. Trade and trade promotion has many different facets, as the Deputy outlined. In terms of the political meetings I had about trade when abroad, reassuring people about our quality assurance scheme, a nationally backed quality assurance scheme that has our farmers, our food companies all together pulling towards the one set of standards that are independently verified, is hugely appreciated and very much recognised internationally. Next month I will travel to Japan and South Korea. I will attend the Seoul Foods Expo, which is the fourth largest food exhibition in Asia, as well as World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan. Planning is also under way for a significant trade mission by my Department and myself to China in late autumn. We will have trade receptions in London and Paris as well. On all of those occasions we put the best foot of Ireland forward and tell that story of what our farmers are producing, the traceability, the safety and sustainability credentials. We will continue to tell that story because trade is such a key part and so important for our farmers and their incomes.
Sentiment score: 0.35
That front foot forward is exactly what I am doing in leading my Department. It is why I was in the US for a series of political meetings at Capitol Hill over a couple of days and meetings with other key clients and customers across the US. It is why I will travel to Asia next month. I continue to take those opportunities to tell the story of the innovation that Deputy Clendennen referenced in our food system. Deputy Kenny just highlighted the point I was going to make on the domestic market and our supermarkets and retailers. The agrifood regulator is doing important work in that regard in bringing that transparency piece while also making sure that unfair trading practices are not happening. Since we established the office, it has had a lot of success. I am very supportive of that. I am keen to make sure the officials are equipped to do the job they need to do in providing transparency. It is important for the relationship across the supply chain from our primary producers, our farmers through to our processors and the retail element that we have that equilibrium. I work closely with my colleagues, including the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish, on expanding elements of the markets we are in already. They are just as important as new markets and there are sometimes original contacts that make it easier. We continue to work on all those new opportunities, for example, the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley's work with Seafood Expo and others.
Sentiment score: 0.27
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which I know is of concern to his constituents in Cavan-Monaghan. On 8 May, I held a TB summit with key stakeholders where discussions were held on the most effective ways to mitigate the impact of bovine TB on farm families and reduce herd incidence and spread of the disease. The backdrop to this meeting was the need to address the deteriorating bovine TB disease levels. Herd incidence increased from 4.31% in 2022 to 6.04% in 2024, which was a 36% increase in the number of herds restricted. Over 6,000 farm families were affected by a TB outbreak in 2024. At the summit, I presented 30 potential actions underpinned by five key pillars to address the current rates of bovine TB: first, to support herds free of bovine TB to remain free; second, to reduce the impact of wildlife on the spread of bovine TB; third, to detect and eliminate bovine TB infection as early as possible in herds with a TB breakdown and avoid a future breakdown; fourth, to help farmers improve all areas of on farm biosecurity; and fifth; to reduce the impact of known high-risk animals in spreading bovine TB. As part of this engagement, a proposal to restrict the sale of certain cows from breeding herds of greater than 60 cows that have had an outbreak of TB with three or more standard reactors in the previous three years to other breeding herds was discussed. Only cows present as part of the milking group at the time of breakdown would have such a restriction imposed. This would not apply to calves or replacement animals in these herds if there were no reactors in those groups of animals. This proposal is aimed at ensuring residual or undetected infection does not enter into clear herds inadvertently through the sale of these high-risk animals. The risk of these animals having residual infection is highest in the first three years following a clear test, hence the necessity for ensuring these animals do not go on to transmit infection into clear herds. I will expand further in my supplementary response.
Sentiment score: 0.26
The engagement I had on this and all other proposed actions with the stakeholders will feed into the draft proposals to help contribute to a more effective programme that protects farmers and their families from this disease impacting their herds. I will meet the farm organisations again later this week to discuss updated proposals on foot of our discussions. This has been a deliberative process since February and we have been back and forth. I have listened and taken on board many of the points and concerns that the Deputy raised. I hope to achieve a broad consensus on these proposals but there is an urgency and I intend to move quickly to refine the programme and ensure that the necessary steps are taken to reduce the impact of this disease on farmers and their families because I know how devastating it is. However, I must be clear. The science is very clear: there are three key contributors to the spread and escalation of bovine TB as we have seen in Ireland in recent years. One is wildlife, one is cattle-to-cattle transmission and one is the residual effect in herds that have had a significant breakdown. We must address all three issues in any final solution.
Sentiment score: 0.21
There are two key priorities for me. I know the emotional turmoil there is with having a reactor – the impact it has on families as well as the financial impact. The two clear priorities I have is to ensure that those farmers and farm families that are currently affected or will be affected in the future by a bovine TB breakdown have a clear pathway out of that and that we ensure that fewer are affected in future. The scale of the challenge at the minute is significant and deteriorating, so it cannot be business as usual. In the whole of 2020, my Department spent €20 million on compensation for farmers who had reactors and breakdowns. We spent €20 million compensating farmers in the first four months of this year. That is the trajectory we are dealing with, so it cannot be business as usual, but I guarantee that any measures adopted are based on the best scientific and veterinary advice. Through strong leadership by all involved in the programme and by working together, we can bring in the necessary measures, as Deputy Burke outlined, that will make a meaningful difference, stop this infection increasing and drive down its spread greatly so that we can get back to credibly talking about eradication again.
Sentiment score: 0.31
I am delighted the Deputy raised the point regarding the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, particularly as it is such an important support for our farmers and farm families. It is grant aid to farmers to build or improve a specified range of farm buildings and equipment on their holdings, many of which will assist in making farms more resilient in the face of storms. In acknowledgement of the urgency of support required following Storm Éowyn, I opened a new tranche of TAMS 3 for a three-week period in March to deal specifically with storm-related damage on farms. The specific items in respect of which applications were accepted over this three-week period are as follows: back-up power take-off, PTO, generators; sheep, bovine and equine fencing that was damaged; and wood and biomass chippers and mulchers. Considering the recent power outages arising from storm damage, I reviewed the scope of generators supported by TAMS to include all generators, irrespective of the drive mechanism. The grant is targeted at the generator rather than the drive mechanism. While these generators are included as an investment item under the dairy equipment scheme, the investment is open to all farmers who declare the minimum eligibility requirement of 5 ha under the basic income support for sustainability, BISS, scheme in the year of application or preceding year. There is no requirement to be milking cows to be eligible for back-up generators under the scheme. For example, foresters and farmers with forestry, for which the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, has responsibility, will very much benefit from mulchers and chippers as well. In addition to these existing investments and to further aid resilience, I recently announced plans to introduce grant aid support under TAMS for replacement of roofs. The application process for this specific investment will be available later this year, when systems are developed. In the meantime, I urge farmers to carry out a structural assessment of their farm buildings. The suite of TAMS schemes, which includes more than 400 investment items, is the best mechanism for ensuring that funding is targeted at the most appropriate enterprises. That is why I made this particular tranche available to farmers in March.
Sentiment score: 0.29
We are using TAMS to be as agile as possible. TAMS has seen a highly significant increase in drawdown because farmers see the benefit of it. On that support, and there is also support under TAMS for solar panels, which has seen significant drawdown for those with high energy bills and the ability to do so, the agility of the system has been so important in allowing us to respond in real time to farmers who are affected. I am mindful that many farmers availing of this will be able to draw down and get generators that could well stand to them and can build up resilience ahead of the next storm. It was not just in response to Storm Éowyn. It was also about future-proofing our farmers and recognising the impact a devastating event such as Storm Éowyn can have. On the Deputy's point on solar, I support farmers' ability to get that alternative income stream. That is why we took away the planning permission requirement for solar panels on the roofs of sheds. That allows farmers to continue to do their farming activity but to bring in alternative and additional farm income as well.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I assure the Deputy it has been looked at. It is a challenge and a source of great frustration for farmers that have not benefited. The farmers who have mainly benefited from solar panels on the roofs of sheds, and the TAMS support for it, have been those with high energy bills, especially dairy farmers when offsetting those dairy bills. Under state aid rules, using the TAMS mechanism whereby farmers would be able to sell back into the grid, has not been a possibility for us. It comes down to the accounting at EU level. That is a source of frustration. It is something we have looked at. I would love to be able to get it changed at EU level but there is that restriction on it. It is still very important that we have the solar element. I remind the Deputy that the solar element is at the higher rate of 60% under TAMS in recognition of that cost. It is also a separate headline. It is there because we recognise that farmers are drying grain for tillage or whatever have very high energy bills. This is suited to them and the other schemes might be suited to the broader solar panels issue. For that alternative income, it is benefiting farmers who have those high energy costs.
Sentiment score: 0.12
I am delighted to have the opportunity to do so. The CAP is absolutely critical. I wish the Deputy well in his role as chairperson of the joint Oireachtas committee on agriculture. I look forward to working with him and his colleagues in the term ahead. As Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, I am working closely with EU institutions and my counterparts in other member states to influence negotiations on the next CAP. The CAP is central to the EU’s success in ensuring food security, supporting farm incomes and developing rural areas. The CAP also remains critical to the agrifood sector’s resilience and competitiveness, as it has since Ireland joined the EU more than 50 years ago. I recently set out my four key priorities for the CAP: a CAP that is more straightforward for farmers; a more flexible and responsive CAP; one which has an appropriate balance between all elements of sustainability; and an adequate and dedicated budget that is needed for an effective CAP. I am determined that the CAP will continue to play a positive role in supporting Irish farmers, the food industry, rural communities and the wider economy into the future. It is a key responsibility of Government to raise Ireland's concerns with our EU partners and to influence EU policy. For my part as Minister, I meet with my counterparts in the Council of the European Union every month to discuss and shape agriculture and food policy in the EU. I have and will continue to engage with Christophe Hansen, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, and my fellow EU Ministers on the issues affecting the agrifood sector, including the CAP post 2027, at Council meetings as well as in bilateral discussions. I have my next meeting of the AGRIFISH Council next Monday in Brussels. I will prioritise these engagements at European level, particularly in preparation for Ireland’s Presidency of the EU in the second half of 2026. Funding for the CAP forms part of the broader EU budget, known as the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, which is ultimately agreed by the heads of government and at European Council level. That will obviously hugely shape what comes next in terms of the CAP. We are bringing along the CAP proposals. The Commissioner is proposing to publish them around the same time in July in order that they can all be discussed and debated together.
Sentiment score: 0.24
In my engagement with Commissioner Hansen to date, I feel he is someone who gets it, both from his visit to Ireland in January and in his vision for agriculture in the different points he has outlined. He feels like somebody who understands the importance of the CAP for our farmers and food production system. The reason I clearly outlined my core priorities and those of Ireland regarding the CAP is to get them established early. To have them established earlier, I brought a memo to the Cabinet and got approval from my Government colleagues for the approach I want to take. In the second half of 2026, when the finer details of the CAP will be in the melting pot, we will have the Presidency of the EU. At that stage, I could be chairing the EU agriculture Council. Already, agriculture ministers from the other 26 member states are looking for bilateral meetings to engage with me and tell me what their priorities are. I want to clearly articulate to them and Commissioner Hansen what our priorities are for protecting the Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 payments and the separate fund for agriculture that is so important to our sector.
Sentiment score: 0.39
There are two parts to this. The multi-annual financial framework, or the overall budget for Europe, will determine so much of the second part around the CAP. That is why the Heads of State and Government, including the Taoiseach, will have a key role to play in terms of engagement at this level and at the European Council. The Government has been very fair in articulating its priorities around protecting the CAP structure and the very positive roles played by Pillars 1 and 2. I have highlighted my concerns about rumours circulating that there will somehow be a central pot that member states will pull out of, and also about the impact of this on the Single Market and cohesion. While the first part is the overall budget, the second involves ensuring a focus on delivering a simplified CAP. The points on simplification are to come this year. Some are administrative and will make a change, but the overall simplification will be in the design of the new CAP. There will be an element of national discretion whereby we this House and the key stakeholders will discuss how I can design a CAP that best suits our agricultural system. First and foremost, it is about protecting the budget and having it ring-fenced to deliver what we need it to do.
Sentiment score: 0.24
I thank Deputy Neville and the other Deputies present for staying up this late at night to raise very important questions. We are on the night shift here. This matter is very important. There is concern among farmers over the impact of tariffs. It refocuses everyone’s mind. We are so busy day to day on our farms that we sometimes forget that we export 90% of the food and drink we produce. When key trading partners make or propose significant policy changes it can quickly have a very big impact at farm-gate level. I am very conscious that the additional tariff rate of 10% on all imports to the US, in place since 9 April, directly impacts the competitiveness of Irish agrifood exports on the US market. It makes Irish food and drink products more expensive for US consumers, who, as I have seen at first hand, really value our premium Irish products. However, the 90-day pause on the US side in relation to the higher tariff rates originally announced on 2 April, along with the EU pausing its countermeasures, have created the conditions for meaningful negotiation. On the tariffs, Ireland’s consistent position remains that we need to get into a calm, measured and comprehensive dialogue with the US to avoid damage to our bilateral trade. This is also the position of the EU. Ireland, as part of the EU, wants to play a constructive role and will continue to be a voice for calm and measured engagement in the time ahead. The US is the second largest market for Irish agrifood exports after the UK, with exports last year valued at almost €2 billion. My recent trade mission to the US offered me an opportunity to highlight the mutual benefit of our trading relationship with the US and the level of investment by Irish companies in the US market, creating jobs and adding value for local economies. Meaningful negotiations with the US remain the main focus for both the EU and Ireland. The Commission is fully engaged in discussions with the US and a negotiated solution remains very clearly the goal and our preferred outcome. We continue to work in that regard.
Sentiment score: 0.28
There absolutely is. I continue to work with the Minister for enterprise, Deputy Peter Burke, and all colleagues across the Government. On enterprise, there is considerable pressure on our whiskey distilling sector because 40% of the whiskey we export goes to the US. Changes such as those to tariffs have a direct impact on industries. I am working with the Minister, Deputy Burke, on his plans to develop an action plan on competitiveness and to help us to control the things we control. We always consider market diversification. I am on record as saying the US tariffs challenge we face feels like Brexit mark 2. A key trading partner of ours is making or proposing a very significant policy shift, which will hurt us, our companies and consumers. It is really going to hurt US customers and companies. The EU has a role, and the EU response has an impact. Therefore, we have to use our position, based on our close bilateral relations with the US, to best articulate what exemplifies our position. It is a case of negotiating from a position of strength from the heart of the EU. That is the only place to be and it is exactly what we did during Brexit and what we will continue to do here. We will also seek to diversify our market opportunities, which is why I will travel to Japan and Korea next month and to China later this year. The Ministers of State, Deputies Dooley and Grealish, will also lead trade missions over the course of the year.
Sentiment score: 0.08
As Minister for agriculture, I have a close working relationship with the food industry and businesses. When people think agriculture, they think farmers. That is only right since there are 120,000 Irish farmers in the country who produce that top-quality food. We also have 170,000 people, or close to it, employed in this sector, however, and many of those high-quality jobs are in food processing and in those companies the Deputy mentioned. They all feed into the value of our exports, which last year alone were worth €19.2 billion to the overall economy, so it is all those jobs together. When I will lead trade missions to Asia next month, as I have to America on many occasions, I will be joined by companies. I will go to the Seoul Food expo in Korea, the fourth largest food exhibition in Asia, and follow that with the World Expo in Osaka, Japan. I will be accompanied by Bord Bia, which, as a semi-State agency, is our direct link with those companies. They tell us where their key opportunities are, we work on market access issues and we work on trade promotion with those companies. What benefits food companies and their exports also benefits farmers and feeds directly down to that balanced regional development and the importance of the rural economy.
Sentiment score: 0.15
I thank the Deputy for raising a very important point. I am delighted to be able to put on the record that I am committed to the long-term viability of the Irish agriculture sector, as the Deputy would obviously expect me, as Minister for agriculture, to say. Included in that are farm families, who are the bedrock of the sector, the agrifood industry and the rural economy. The industry is hugely important in terms of economic activity and employment. At the same time, Ireland's national and EU ambitions on climate, land use and biodiversity are challenging and will require the application of the best scientific and technological advancements available, coupled with engagement of all stakeholders, if we are to meet both national and international commitments. I reassure the Deputy that this sector is up to the challenge, supported by the Government. It is something I am focusing on and will continue to focus on through collaboration and engagement with all involved. The EPA published the Ireland's Final Greenhouse Gas Emissions 1990-2023 report in April of this year, which sets out that total greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector in Ireland in 2023 were 20.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. This represents a year-on-year decrease on 2022 of 4.9% of greenhouse gas emissions from the sector. While this decrease represents notable progress, it is important we continue to support Irish farmers and maintain this positive trajectory towards meeting our targets. Pathways to enable the sector to meet its 2030 climate ambitions in the agriculture and land use sectors are set out in the Climate Action Plan, which is now reviewed and updated annually in accordance with the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act 2021. Ireland's Common Agricultural Policy strategic plan is supporting farmers to transition to more sustainable practices while also supporting family farm incomes, with a budget of €9.8 billion. As part of Ireland's Common Agricultural Policy strategic plan, my Department is providing €1.5 billion for the agri-environmental scheme ACRES, increased funding for organic farming, which has increased the area farmed organically in Ireland to 248,000 ha, and €260 million to improve the carbon efficiency of the suckler herd through genetic improvement.
Sentiment score: 0.43
We have so many supports available for our farmers, who are up for this challenge, as I said earlier. I am accompanied by the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, who has a budget of €1.3 billion underpinning the forestry programme 2023-2027, which is the means by which we are implementing the forestry strategy and supporting farmers and the industry to reduce emissions through carbon capture, which Deputy Heneghan outlined in many different ways. It is really important. My Department supports a range of other climate change mitigation activities, including improvement in bovine genetics, which has a massive potential in terms of the scalability and the cumulative benefit year on year, investments in solar panels on farms, support for multi-species swards, and many other measures. I have always said farmers cannot go green environmentally if they are in the red financially, but the truth is that the smart business play, not just the right thing to do by our environment, for our farmers is adopting more of these sustainability measures, once we make sure that sustainability stool is equally divided between the economic, the environmental and the societal. We are definitely making great strides in that space and farmers are doing their bit.
Sentiment score: 0.63
I take that on board. What we have always said is that property rights are enshrined in the Constitution and farmers, as owners of the land, have rights there. Where they are supported to do so and the income is there for them to support their farming activity, they have proven themselves to be very adaptable. Farming is changing. Farming changes. It is very different today from what it was a generation ago, when my parents farmed, and it will be again when my children are farming. It will be a very different scenario and we are adopting all those sustainability credentials, taking on all the opportunities that provides. As I said, I have seen it from the trade perspective. Our pasture-based system here is unique and is a unique selling point for us. As regards the sustainability credentials of what we are doing, farmers can do more than one thing at the one time. We are producing top-quality food that is a very important source of income for them, our country and our rural economy. At the same time, we will be reducing emissions three years in a row, we see an improvement in water quality and an improvement in biodiversity, and farmers continue to work in that regard because they can do more than one thing at the one time.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I thank Deputy Burke for raising this very important issue. I know it is a cause of great concern. Even if I had not been engaging with farm organisations, since I got this role, on the area of TB and if I had not been pointing to the fact I need a new approach to the TB programme, which I would like to do through consensus, there is that concern with farmers already. The concern at the rise in the incidence of TB is palpable among farmers. Those who have it on their farms are very stressed and want a clear pathway out of their current restrictions, while those who do not have it do not want to get it and are very much afraid the rising incidence means they will get it. Bovine TB is a challenging disease to control and eradicate. In recent years, bovine TB levels have continued to deteriorate. Herd incidence has increased from 4.31% in 2022 to 6.04% in 2024, resulting in a 36% increase in the number of herds restricted between those two years. As of 11 May, over a 12-month period we had a herd incidence of 6.3% with more than 42,200 reactors. This disease is having an impact on farmers and their families both financially and emotionally throughout rural Ireland. At the February meeting of the TB forum, it was agreed that all stakeholders would provide proposals on new measures for inclusion in the TB programme aimed at reducing TB levels in cattle against the backdrop of surging disease levels. The TB forum met on 26 March, at which representatives presented their proposals for measures aimed at reducing the high levels of TB. The chair of the TB forum wrote to me following this meeting outlining discussions at the meeting. On 8 May, I held a TB summit to address the deteriorating TB disease levels with key stakeholders at which discussions were held on the most effective ways to mitigate the impact of bovine TB on farm families and to reduce herd incidence and spread of the disease. I have outlined on the record that I have 30 proposed actions across five key pillars. My approach is to try to get consensus. We will meet farm organisations and stakeholders again later this week. We cannot do business as usual, such are the numbers. We want to work together to ease this burden on farmers and the stress as well as the financial impact on them.
Sentiment score: 0.13
There absolutely is. There is also the emotional impact and trauma, which I would not underestimate. I remember when we had a reactor at home on the farm in Kildare in the 1990s when I was still in school and the devastation of seeing that cow and that reactor go. It stayed with me for a long time afterwards. I want to do two things. I want to provide a clear pathway to those directly impacted by this disease where they can see light at the end of the tunnel. Many say to me they do not have that sense; there is a sense of hopelessness right now. That is not a good place for anyone to be in. Second, I want to avoid the 94% of farmers not affected by bovine TB, besides having to do an annual herd test, having to get this. We would greatly reduce the number of farms, farm families and herds impacted and, therefore, the number of reactors. The Deputy highlighted the key numbers. By working together we can do this if we follow the science. There are three causes of that infection. We have to deal with all three elements.
Sentiment score: -0.06
I agree. The Deputy spoke about the investment from my Department. It will take increased investment in the short term to try to get on top of this issue. I am willing to do that in order to prioritise. There are three key drivers of the infection: the role of wildlife, cattle-to-cattle transmission and the residual element left in herds that had a significant breakdown. My five-point plan includes supporting herds free of bovine TB to remain free; reducing the impact of wildlife on the spread of bovine TB; detecting and eliminating bovine TB infection as early as possible in a TB breakdown to avoid future breakdowns; and helping farmers to improve all areas of on-farm biosecurity. There are simple measures that can greatly reduce, statistically, the risk of the spread of infection. The final point is reducing the impact of known high-risk animals in spreading bovine TB. If we follow the science, we can make a significant difference and greatly reduce the number of people directly impacted and the economic impact that is so devastating for our farmers and farm families. I would love to be able to do that with consensus of the key stakeholders I will meet later this week.
Sentiment score: 0.16
As the Deputy will be aware, ACRES is the flagship environmental scheme provided under the CAP Strategic Plan 2023-2027 with €1.5 billion in Exchequer and EU funding allocated over the course of the scheme. Payments in respect of farmers' participation in the ACRES scheme continue to issue on a weekly basis as cases pass all validation checks. Last week, I announced that balancing payments in respect of the 2024 scheme year have commenced with more than €33 million issuing to 42,444 participants. A total of €490 million has issued since ACRES payments commenced at the end of 2023. However, I am acutely aware that others are still awaiting payments. This is a source of great frustration for me. I have been dealing with it since the minute I assumed this role. In the case of the 2023 scheme year, 97% of participants have been paid in full. As regards 2024, 90% of participants have received their advance payments and almost 88% of these have now received a balancing payment. To be clear, my Department is committed to resolving the issues that have been delaying the remaining payments as soon as possible and is making progress in this regard. I know that is cold comfort if you are one of the few who still have not been sorted. We have made significant progress and built momentum, which I continue to do.
Sentiment score: 0.26
When I assumed this role. it was not acceptable to me to meet so many farmers where in many instances, the fault was with the Department. In some instances it was with themselves for various reasons but in the majority of cases, it has been on our side. I have visited Johnstown Castle and have engaged directly with the officials. I have directed additional resources into the units. I have got down into the detail of the different cohorts and how they are affected. One reason it takes time to fix this is that I am not willing to have a quick fix that needs a manual intervention every year. I want to make sure that the resolution here means that this problem does not recur every year. That is why we are getting through this and I stick to the commitments I made previously to resolve this as quickly as possible.
Sentiment score: 0.00