----practical and fair space for the discussion on this issue. The Deputy standing up here calling for a head and for a witch hunt against someone who has not broken rules, and not wanting any debate-----
TDs / Martin Heydon
Martin Heydon
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
128,151
words spoken in the chamber
127,978 as a minister, 173 as a TD
404
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
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Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 530 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
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|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
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| February 2025 | 7 |
| March 2025 | 8 |
| April 2025 | 38 |
| May 2025 | 41 |
| June 2025 | 2 |
| July 2025 | 28 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 2 |
| October 2025 | 59 |
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| February 2026 | 31 |
| March 2026 | 39 |
| April 2026 | 15 |
| May 2026 | 44 |
| June 2026 | 1 |
| July 2026 | 42 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 1 |
| October 2026 | 45 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 425 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Kildare South 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fine Gael 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine 23 January 2025 to now
-----and like the IFA, not wanting clear information out there, is not doing farmers any service. It is not. I am going to leave it there.
In relation to the actual question the Deputy put down, I am satisfied that the Agri-Food Regulator is fulfilling its overall statutory role to the highest standards, in particular on the unfair trading practices, the UTP legislation, and continues to work on behalf of stakeholde…
The price of beef-----
It is ironic that we are standing here dealing with a question about transparency, the Agri-Food Regulator and the importance for farmers of having transparency-----
-----when the farm organisation that is currently protesting outside Bord Bia is denying-----
Hold on now, the Deputy wants to-----
The heckling is a Sinn Féin trick. Let us park that one for a minute. The farm organisation currently protesting outside Bord Bia is refusing to allow its county executive chairs and the chairs of its commodities committees to receive the detailed briefing from that very chair about the nature of that deal that is being conflated and sold in a soundbite way to farmers. No wonder farmers are upset the way it is being …
-----that specific trade deal is worth hundreds of millions of euro to Irish farmers and to our industry. The chairman of Bord Bia has overseen exponential growth in the value of Irish food exports year on year-----
When the CSO figures come out in the next couple of weeks, we will see more record growth. This is money going straight into farmers' pockets. They benefit from the integrated nature of global supply chains.
For once, I agree with the Deputy on something. Responsibility for confidence in Bord Bia is spread broadly. It is not on any one entity or farming organisation. Deputy Kenny also has responsibility. The soundbites he is coming out with here, which lack information and are designed to whip farmers up, are also undermining Bord Bia.
The IFA's rash decision not to listen to the explanation and to rush straight out to protest - it had its mind made up before the meeting that it was going to do that - has also played a considerable part in damaging Bord Bia's reputation. We all have to work to rebuild that reputation. That does not mean getting a head on a plate. Government does not operate by mob rule in such scenarios. I will leave it at that, be…
I am delighted to have the opportunity to discuss a matter of real substance and of real consequence for farmers for this year and from 2028 to 2034. The decisions we make this year and going into next year will be absolutely critical. I look forward to engaging with the Deputy and colleagues on the Oireachtas joint committee and to working in the very collaborative way we have done for the past year. Members on all …
The overall level of funding will obviously be dictated by the negotiations on the MFF by the Heads of State and Government. The Departments of Finance and foreign affairs are the lead Departments in these negotiations, in consultation with the Department of the Taoiseach. Ireland's position is very clear. We cannot support a weakening of the CAP budget. Our priority in the negotiations is to secure an adequate overa…
I share the Deputy's concerns about simplification. Historically, we have seen complication. You see this with measures coming forward from Brussels, particularly from directorates general other than DG AGRI. We have the carbon border adjustment mechanism, CBAM, and we had the EU deforestation regulation. Those proposals came from a good place but their practical impact on farming and so on had not been fully conside…
The positive case was found last week due to stringent routine investigations and testing of a culled cow that had been slaughtered. Antibodies were found, which showed the culled cow had been infected with bluetongue virus, BTV-3, last year on a farm in Wexford. We went in with our follow-up tracing and testing of all of the animals on that farm and the contiguous farm surrounding it. As of yesterday, unfortunately,…
I focused on one part of the question. I will respond now on the vaccines. The first animal that tested positive did so for antibodies, which proved the culled cow had it last year. As we know, midge activity can only spread disease when the temperature is over a constant 12°C, so we are really in the high-risk period from April or May until October. This animal had it last year and did not present symptoms. The othe…
It is not as big a concern that an animal had it here last year. A number of animals displaying antibodies now, showing they had it last year, gives us the concern that midges in that area were infected with it last year. These midges are lying dormant at present. Will some of them still have the disease when the temperature goes back up to spread it? That is the real concern. This disease is not passed from animal t…
I thank Deputy Murphy. Is "moderately extreme" a thing or is it an oxymoron? When I was in Australia somebody pulled me up for saying something was "terrible bad". I was told something is either bad or terrible but that it cannot be both. Deputy Murphy caught me with "moderately extreme".
All joking aside, I thank Deputy Murphy for raising this important question concerning the resilience of Irish farming in the eve…
When I first got this job a year ago I got many regular briefings on disease threats, risks, plant diseases, animal diseases, weather risks and everything else. It is a bit overwhelming and then after a while one realises we have our mitigation plans and our approach, which I will go into in a minute. However, it is important we do not catastrophise. The NCCRA, published in 2025, identifies over 100 climate risks and…
I just listed actions.
It says it is low likelihood.
To finish the point I was making on the sectoral adaption plan, as well as priority actions in areas such as advisory and technical capacity, sustainable land and water management, we also have forestry resilience, species diversification, improved management and early warning for pests and fire. We are the fourth largest spending Department on research and much of that research is focused on the impact of our changi…
It is great to see such collegiality among the Louth Deputies.
I thank Deputy McGreehan for raising an important point on the role carbon sequestration can play in agriculture and the opportunities there are in this space. I acknowledge the Deputy is wearing a St. Brigid's cross. Both Louth and Kildare are very proud of Brigid. We are looking forward to the public holiday this weekend in her honour.
Innovative technologies to improve our measurement of carbon sequestration on I…
We continue to monitor the latest technology and the opportunities and the amount of work under way in this area is significant. The National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory is part of my Department's strategic investment in soil carbon research. Funding was supplied to the establishment of the observatory by supplying the scientific infrastructure to measure GHG fluxes from soils under agriculture management. T…