Speech by Minister McConalogue at IFA AGM on 9 January 2024

Check against delivery

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for inviting my colleagues - Ministers of State Hackett and Heydon – and I, to address your AGM today here in the Irish Farm Centre.

I would like to start by complimenting Tim Cullinan on his successful term as IFA President. The last four years have been extremely tumultuous between the impacts of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine as well as a new CAP and Climate Action Plan. Tim and I have met, discussed, agreed and disagreed on these and many other topics over his tenure and I thank him most sincerely for that engagement. I wish him and his family all the best for the future.

The mantel of representing farmers has been ably taken up by your new President. I want to congratulate Francie Gorman as he now fills one of the most important roles in Irish society. You have a wealth of experience representing farmers that will no doubt be invaluable to you, Francie.

My congratulations also, to Alice Doyle. The appointment of the first female Deputy President is an important milestone for your organization. I am sure that you recognise the significance Alice, and will use the opportunity entrusted to you by the membership to support other female leaders in the sector.

For IFA leaders, the process of election is arduous and democratic. Outgoing Deputy President Brian Rushe in his capacity as Returning Officer has ensured that the new leadership has a strong mandate with a turnout in your recent election of, I understand, almost 30,000 votes. Securing such a turnout is no mean feat and I congratulate your members on their participation in that process. I wish Brian the best in his future endeavours.

IFA has a strong record of working closely and effectively with my department. There is a general acceptance that we have a common set of objectives and the kind of mutual respect upon which constructive relationships can be built. Of course, there will be tensions. That is the sign of a healthy relationship, but we both want the best for the Irish Agri food sector in the long term.

I am confident that under the leadership of Francie and Alice, the working relationship between the IFA and Government will continue to strengthen. This is important as we have a lot to do over the next few years!

We must be ambitious for the sector, and positive about its future. We owe that to farmers and to future generations. I am certain that we will achieve far more by working together in a positive way.

The last three years have been about developing new policy and new schemes and this has caused a lot of policy churn and changes for farmers to grapple with. But we have done the heavy lifting and this year we now can focus on the farming.

Yes, we will be collaborating on water quality and have some initial discussions on the next CAP amongst other policy issues, but it has been a hard three years, and this year will be about stability. Now is the time to tell everyone how farmers are delivering. Now is the time to broadcast and promote the great work that farmers are doing and communicate to consumers that farmers are to be valued.

This year will be about getting on with the farming.

The agri-food sector - Ireland’s largest indigenous exporting industry - plays a vital role in Ireland’s economy. And despite the challenges of Brexit, the Pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ag Sector, has performed reasonably strongly over the past few years.

Last year was much more difficult and Mother nature didn’t help either with significant rainfall impacting tillage farmers in particular. Dairy farm incomes also dropped significantly, but beef, sheep and pig farm incomes held up and even increased. The Teagasc outlook for 2024 is more positive for all of these sectors, with the exception of pigmeat unfortunately. I provided in excess of €18 million in financial support to this important sector at a time of significant financial stress to ensure its ongoing viability and I am confident that the medium to long term outlook for this and the overall sector is positive.

My own approach consistently has been - and remains - to support farm families economically and to meet the strategic needs of the sector.

Funding provided by government supports the sector’s environmental ambition, improves competitiveness and directly supports farmer incomes.

It is this government that has secured the highest ever funding for an Irish CAP programme with just under €10 billion being provided directly to farmers and rural communities up to 2027. We kick started that with €1.2 billion going out last autumn and payments continue every week.

This record funding also enabled me to deliver the best funded agri-environment scheme ever in ACRES, which has increased funding of 50% over both GLAS and AEOS. I have also delivered the biggest ever capital investment scheme in TAMs 3. There are a total of 110 main investments and 432 sub-investments for applicants under TAMS 3. This compares to 92 main investments and 372 sub-investments under TAMS II.

I am proud to be the Minister to deliver this for Irish farmers.

I have also tried to be flexible and responsive over the past few years, and to provide targeted supports to address some of the exceptional short-term challenges facing the sector.

As well as considerable fodder supports totalling €106 million, I provided specific supports for the tillage sector with the €7.147 million secured from the EU Agricultural Reserve in 2023, 100% matched with state funding in Budget 2024. The Tillage Incentive Scheme (TIS) realised expenditure of €10.9 million in 2022 and 2023 payments worth over €7.3 million commenced in December.

Of course, we don’t have an unlimited pot of money, so it is critically important that in taking this responsive approach, we don’t lose sight of the long-term strategic goals for the sector. These must be the primary focus for Government, and, I would suggest, for farm bodies.

So, for tillage we hard wired a doubling of the Protein Aid Scheme to €7 million annually, and a Straw Incorporation Scheme worth €10 million annually, into our CAP Strategic Plan. Under SIM, an individual tillage farmer can receive up to a €10,000.

These are long term strategic investments in the sector.

I am very aware of the challenges faced by the horticulture industry and to that end Minister Hackett and I recently allocated €2.3 million of the Agriculture Reserve fund to support the Hort sub sectors most in need. Looking to the longer-term, we also provided significant support for the Commercial Horticulture Sector through the Investment Aid Scheme which has a budget allocation of €10 million in 2024 following approval of €9.9 million in 2023.

In 2023, I announced a groundbreaking genotyping scheme now confirmed out to 2027. This innovative partnership can drive real genetic gain for farmers and improve their economic performance substantially while also supporting our environmental goals.

Minister Hackett and I launched a new forestry programme with supports increased by up to 60%, and a new 20-year premium period exclusively for farmers, placing farmers at the centre of our national afforestation strategy. I urge farmers to have a look at the options to supplement their farm incomes.

Rolling out this entirely new framework has been a monumental task for my department, for advisors and farmers. We have, nonetheless, retained our position as among best in class in the EU for making payments with an average of 90% of farmers receiving payments in the first week, an improvement on previous first years of CAP. Although there was some unavoidable impact on payment schedules, dates for 2023 were communicated clearly and early with farmers and those target dates were achieved successfully. Some ACRES payments unfortunately, due to the complexity of the CP scheme, are an outlier in this regard. But, I am confident that, working through the farmers’ charter, we will return to the historical dates farmers are familiar with, and improve on payment schedules for new schemes in 2024.

There is a necessary emphasis on climate and environment in our CAP strategic plan. If the level of engagement by farmers in the schemes shows anything, it is that they are hugely positive about engaging in action, given the right framework and incentives. For example, over 97% of farmers supported by CAP are participating in our Eco-scheme.

This scheme will pay farmers over €1.5 billion over the next five years, to complete actions on their farms to protect and enhance our natural resources.

The budget for 2024 is almost €2 billion, and over €3 billion when direct payments are included. This represents my commitment to our farm families and demonstrates my unwavering support for beef and sheep farmers, with €113 million in targeted supports for these sectors.

The Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme or SCEP delivers €150 on the first 22 cows and €120 on subsequent cows. This compares to €90/cow on the first 10/cows and €80/cow thereafter in the BDGP. Farmers who took part in the National Beef Welfare Scheme as well as SCEP, will earn €200/cow-calf pair. I committed to €200 per cow. I delivered on €200 per cow and I secured the funding in Budget 2024 to deliver it again in 2024.

On Sheep, I am providing an additional payment which, together with the current Sheep Welfare Scheme payments, will result in a payment equivalent to €20 per ewe in 2024, a doubling of payments from €10/ewe in 2022. This will be the highest payment ever provided to our vitally important sheep sector.

I was absolutely focused on securing additional funding for the beef and sheep sectors in budget 2024. This I achieved and department officials are working on the roll-out of these and will be engaging with your representatives soon to hear your views.

My colleague Minister of State, Martin Heydon is providing funding for vital research, in areas such as methane abatement, genetic development in livestock and the development of new economic opportunities in the bio economy. I am supporting the digital sustainability platform AgNAV which will enable the analysis of an individual farm’s emissions, helping farmers identify the best climate and sustainability measures for their farm.

All of these schemes and initiatives are an investment in the future of the sector and the future of Irish farming.

We are exporters and this strategic approach supports sales of Irish produce to international markets. Through the provision of funding for Bord Bia, the deployment of Departmental Attaches to Washington, the Gulf States, Mexico, Beijing and Seoul, and by leading trade missions linking Irish businesses with customers overseas and building official and political links with key influencers in those markets, I am driving more value from those markets.

Just before Christmas, we received very positive news about access for Irish beef to a market of 50 million affluent consumers in South Korea. This follows my visit there on the whole of government trade mission in October. We are continuing to work intensively to reopen the Chinese market for Irish beef and I am hopeful that we will see progress there soon.

Often this work does not yield instant results. It involves diplomatic and technical engagement, sometimes over many years. However, this is the kind of investment that will underpin the long-term future of the sector and ultimately improve competitiveness and support farm incomes.

Last year, I also delivered the Agri food Regulator. Again, a long-term strategic investment to ensure that suppliers of agri food produce are protected from practices that are unlawful and to bring more transparency to pricing in the sector. I am delighted that the Regulator’s Office is now fully operational, and I wish your Past President Joe Healy, the newly appointed Chairman, his board, and Niamh Lenehen the Chief Executive, every success in their critically important work.

There are challenges of course we must address together.

Water quality is high on that list. We remain one of the few countries in the European Union to retain a Nitrates Derogation, but as you are all aware, disappointingly, the upper limit for Organic Nitrogen utilisation has been reduced to 220 kg per hectare from the start of this year. All of our combined efforts now must go into retaining the derogation from 2026 onwards.

We cannot be complacent and collectively we must be straight with farmers on the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in. To secure the renewal of the derogation, we must take credible measures now to improve water quality. I am confident that, working with farm bodies and relevant State Agencies through the Water Quality Working Group, we can do what is necessary.

We have challenging EU regulations coming down the tracks on Animal Transport. Irish intervention has already mitigated some of the worst impacts of the original proposals, but there are still significant elements that will cause problems for us. Again, I am confident, that working with farm bodies and the industry, we can navigate our way through this. The starting point, however, must be improvements in calf welfare. I am working with stakeholders on initiatives in this regard.

This year we will continue to engage on the GAEC2 on peatlands and wetlands, which is an overhang from the CAP programme. Although most EU Countries have already implemented their GAEC2 measures, I delayed our implementation to ensure proper engagement and discussion with the farm organisations.

Later this year however, this last piece of the CAP will be settled, and communications will issue to farmers.

I want to conclude by thanking IFA for inviting me here this afternoon. I look forward to working closely with the new President and his team.

This is a fantastic sector. It is a critical part of Irish society and the Irish economy with roots deep in every parish in the country.

This is a progressive, forward-looking sector, active in climate action, investing in cutting edge research and development and building new economic opportunities to produce the best food in the world.

This is not said enough.

Let’s work together this year to ensure that Irish agriculture continues to thrive and develop in the way that I know that it can, and let’s commit together to telling people its positive story.

2024 will be about focusing on the farming.

Let’s get on with it together.