2026-03-19

87. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide details of the initiative to increase the amount of flour milling in the State and the necessary increase in the acreage of wheat grown; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19101/26]

I am glad the Minister and two Ministers of State are here to take the question. Will the Minister provide details of the initiative to increase the amount of milling flour produced in the State and the necessary increase in acreage of wheat to be grown for that? I say this in a positive way. I hope with the Minister and two Ministers of State that we can have some good news on this now.

I know how important milling is to Laois and beyond-----

An-tábhachtach.

As is the tillage sector. The tillage sector is an integral part of Irish farming, producing high-quality animal feed and bedding for the livestock sector and ingredients for the food and drink industry. The sector makes a significant contribution to the Irish economy, as the Deputy knows, estimated at €1.9 billion per annum over the 2018 to 2022 period. It is also important in terms of employment and is estimated to support over 11,000 full-time equivalent jobs. This Government is committed to growing the area under tillage crops in line with climate action plan targets. The Food Vision tillage group report sets out a roadmap for the sector’s growth and development, identifying key opportunities to sustainably grow the sector. Adding value to tillage crop output will be crucial to its long-term sustainability and competitiveness. The programme for Government commits to examining facilities for the processing of Irish crops and to exploring opportunities for oilseed and milling wheat processing. Additionally, a key recommendation in the Food Vision tillage report is to explore opportunities for milling wheat in Ireland. While there are opportunities to grow milling wheat in Ireland, there are also recognised agronomic and market challenges. However, with collaboration from industry and support from the marketplace, domestic production of milling wheat can play a role in providing a new value-added opportunity in the supply chain for Irish tillage farmers. In line with these commitments, my colleague the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Deputy Burke, has approved the development and implementation of a new scheme, to be administered by Enterprise Ireland, to support the establishment of flour milling projects in Ireland. Approval for the scheme was granted in January 2026. I was delighted to be able to launch it with him. It will provide capital investment support for the establishment of large scale flour mills. A total grant budget of €15 million will be made available, and it is envisaged that up to three projects could be supported. Growing that capacity on the processing side will be a real incentive for tillage farmers to look at milling wheat as a greater value-added opportunity as well.

I thank the Minister for the reply. I welcome the news of the plan to develop four flour mills. There is huge financial potential here and gain for producers and jobs and employment. A total of 80% of our flour is coming from Britain, as the Minister knows. During the crisis with the beast from the east, the freak freeze, we almost ran out of flour and bread. The total cereal production in the State, while it was up last year by 10%, that was mainly due to good weather at the start and end of the season, as opposed to the year before. There are huge risks there. We understand that. In terms of costs and that, the costs of fertiliser and fuel have increased. We are very vulnerable in terms of our food security. We are only three days away from a crisis at any time. This is a real opportunity for farmers and for jobs. There are environmental benefits and economic benefits for farmers, jobs and food security. Laois is very good wheat-growing territory. I know south Kildare is as well - the wheat plains of Kildare - but Laois has wheat plains as well. I strongly ask the Minister to consider Laois as a location. There are over 70 acres there of land for industry that is unused by IDA Ireland. I am asking the Minister to make this a priority, right on the edge of Portlaoise on the crossroads of Ireland, the M7 and the N80. You cannot get a better location. It is on the railway line. It has a strong case.

I thought Deputy Stanley was going to break into a bar of Trudi Lalor's "Lovely Laois" for a minute. I am well aware that some of the best tillage land in the country is in Laois because it is right beside Kildare. We have it too. The Deputy has many constituents, as I have, who are dependent, who are tillage farmers and are very worried about the future. They have had three really tough years due to a mixture of bad weather, income challenges and pressures and high input costs and low margin prices. At its heart has been the fact that our tillage sector is largely reliant on world market prices. Unlike the value-added piece that we have managed to introduce on our beef and dairy products, we are not in that space in tillage. I am determined to get there. I have my €50 million supports through straw incorporation and protein aid, and the €30 million tillage sustainability scheme, which I recently launched. On top of that, it is about the value-added piece. It is about developing a quality assurance scheme for our tillage sector that delivers better value back there. It is this value-added piece that is here. In terms of the money and whether Laois is in the mix, it is up to individual companies to put themselves forward for that now. The Government has made that money available for them.

We have a strong tradition of milling flour in Laois. Odlums in Portarlington is one of the few places in the country now doing it. That is there. There is potential for it to be developed in the county. An economic report was published this morning by Alan Ahearne, former adviser to the US Federal Reserve and a former adviser to Micheál Martin, as I understand it. He stated that foreign firms are producing six times more than Irish firms in this State. They produce three quarters of all exports. He stated that there are huge risks to the Irish economy. It is great to have foreign firms. This is not an argument against that and I do not want it to be taken as that. What I am saying is that it is very lopsided. Our economic development has been lopsided for years. There are huge macroeconomic risks there because of that in terms of corporation tax and other risks. As I said, there are the environmental benefits, the economic benefits - jobs, food security and all those benefits. Laois, Kildare and Carlow lost the sugar beet. We should not have lost it and should not give up on it altogether. I welcome what the Minister is doing. I ask him strongly to consider a location in Laois for flour production. We have 70 acres there for it.

I completely concur. We should never have lost the sugar beet industry. It was a detrimental blow to those of us in south Kildare, Laois and beyond who made very good money out of the campaign every year in delivering it into Carlow, as they did in Tuam, Thurles and Mallow. I take the points regarding Alan Ahearne's report on board. It is why the Government has invested and supported Irish agriculture to the extent it has, with record amounts of funding to meet the last CAP plan. The Irish Government was not found wanting in supporting our agriculture sector in matching the European money that came in there. We will continue to do that. It is also about driving more value back into our sector and providing that value-added piece that means our tillage price is not just dealing on commodity markets. It is about being able to premiumise that, as we have seen on the beef and the dairy side. If we can add that premiumisation and increase the value in the product by the story we tell and tillage farmers' work in the area - AgNav is a good example of that - that can lead to positive impacts in the future, as will this investment.