We have talked a lot about energy security, which is a very important issue, but I want to raise another issue that affects every household in this country and that is our food security or, more accurately, our lack of it. The Minister for agriculture describes the Government's Food Vision 2030 as strategy for a world-leading sustainable food system, but it is not a food security plan. In fact, the evidence shows that Ireland will not be able to sustain itself indefinitely without major agriculture and dietary change. We can do this the hard way or the easy way. At the moment, we are 233% self-sufficient in meat and 300% in dairy. Teagasc tells us we produce enough protein for 30 million to 36 million people, but that does not mean Irish families would have access to the food they need if imports were to be disrupted by a war or pandemic. What people buy every week is bread, cereals, pasta, fruit, vegetables, oils and all kinds of food that is largely imported. Only 10% of our land grows crops in this country. Some 90% of it is grass. Modern Irish beef and dairy farming depends on imported fertiliser, feed, fuel and machinery parts. What would this mean for ordinary families? After a two-week scenario, supermarkets would begin to show gaps in fresh fruit and vegetables. Bread would become harder to source because we import most of the milling wheat. Prices would rise. Choice would collapse. The weekly shop would suddenly cost more and people would buy less. After two months, pig and poultry products would become scarce because they rely almost wholly on imported feed. Dairy output would begin to get tighter. There would be more empty shelves. Families on lower incomes would be hit more because, as prices rise, the better-off would use their relative purchasing power to get what is available. After 12 months, fertiliser shortage would reduce grass growth and silage yields. Farmers would cull lower yield animals. Milk and beef output would fall. Ireland would still have all this calorific meat-based protein but not a balanced healthy and affordable diet. The Taoiseach is someone who is into healthy eating, and I am a vegan so I have to be, but households would have to shift to whatever is available. Grow your own might increase massively in gardens but it would not have the scale, so after five years we would have had to adapt massively. As I said at the start, we can do this the easy way or the hard way and expand our horticulture and tillage now, reduce our livestock intensity and have a national food security plan. We have a massive opportunity to expand plant protein production. Fava beans, for example, will fix nitrogen in the soil. We can produce our own plant protein and our own plant milks but also make the soil healthier for other forms of agriculture. The Teagasc tillage initiative scheme and the protein aid scheme have shown that farmers will grow more crops if the incentives are right. We need an actual food security strategy. I do not believe we have one.

Sentiment score: 0.03

I am not trying to cause panic, but we need to be prepared. We have seen the virus on the boat in the Canary Islands. What if it was a more resilient and transmissible virus? What if the Iranian war or other conflicts prevented us from getting as many boats to this country? That is the issue. Food Vision 2030 is based on exports and farm income diversification. It is not about having a national food security plan. My understanding is that there is such a plan in the Netherlands. Even within an EU context, we need a contingency plan in case something happens. That is why we need a strategic food reserve as well as our strategic oil reserve. That means giving grant aid to farmers to allow them to engage in diversification. As the Taoiseach said, a lot of this produce could be turned into animal feed if we do not need it. However, we need some homegrown food stability. I would like to see an actual food security plan.

Sentiment score: 0.11