Farmers are on that journey already in a variety of ways, particularly in the area of water quality. Requirements include the need for Ireland, as outlined during the summer, to conduct environmental assessments to address the habitats directive at catchment level in order to demonstrate compliance with the directive. This is a massive undertaking. It will require significant investment of time and resources to compl…
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.
Month by month
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
Show as a table
| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| 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 |
| November 2025 | 53 |
| December 2025 | 13 |
| January 2026 | 61 |
| 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
Where did the Deputy get that from?
I am happy to confirm all my engagement with Commissioner Roswall has been around the substance of the nitrates derogation. It has a very important role here and the Commissioner saw that first-hand when she visited. The Deputy will forgive me in not taking her direct advice because if I had taken that earlier in the year, the Social Democrats and the Deputy would have had us wave the white flag and concede the nitra…
I thank Deputy O'Gorman for raising this point.
I am aware of the joint committee's report regarding Lady's Island Lake and I am working closely with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan, who is leading the Government's engagement in this area. My Department, along with Teagasc experts, are centrally engaged in the interdepartmental Lady’s Island oversight group led by Wexford County Council, which…
Yes, I can confirm that the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, is taking the lead on this but we are working closely in consultation. I am not deflecting in saying this, but it will be worth raising this point with the Minister of State as well because he is dealing with it on a day-to-day basis. We are providing, as I said, financial support of €50 million through the ASSAP programme. I agree with the Deputy that…
I will do so. I agree with the Deputy that this is about partnership. As with all areas related to addressing environmental challenges, the partnership approach is what works really well. As I stated, Wexford County Council, with the guidance of the interdepartmental group, has developed a site-specific action plan to address the challenges faced by Lady's Island Lake within the framework and mechanisms of the Water …
I thank Deputy Burke for raising this important issue. Once a month, I go to Brussels to meet the other 26 ministers for agriculture at what is known as the AGRIFISH Council. The most recent meeting took place in Brussels on Monday, 17 November. With Ireland's Presidency of the EU commencing in less than eight months, I took the opportunity to continue my proactive engagement with ministerial colleges to ensure that …
As a proposed trade agreement, Mercosur is the responsibility, first and foremost, of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. As Minister for the agriculture sector and farmers, I continue to highlight the sensitivities of this trade proposal for our beef sector in particular. I believe strongly that Ireland and our agriculture sector benefit greatly from our open trade policy and from being part of the EU, inclu…
These are the pertinent points for all the negotiations on the new CAP. We are aligning that discussion on what the new CAP will look like with the proposals around the multi-annual financial framework at the same time.
Ultimately, at the heart of what the CAP can deliver beyond 2027 is the question of how much money is in the pot for it. We know Commissioner Hansen secured a ring-fenced commitment of 80% of the exi…
Very quickly, Commissioner Hansen has expressed in his draft proposals really strong ambition on the area of generational renewal. I want to be able to design approaches in the new CAP that address the issue of generational renewal. However, what I have just talked about in relation to my efforts and the ongoing efforts across the Department of agriculture to retain the nitrates derogation is key for generational ren…
Generational renewal is at the heart of everything we do and will be at the heart of negotiations for the new CAP as well.
I thank Deputy Byrne for raising this point because under the current proposals for CAP post-2027, there is a mandatory requirement for member states to put in place risk management tools. Risk management tools were optional in the current CAP strategic plan, running from 2023 to 2027, and the case for inclusion of crop insurance was examined in its preparation. However, its inclusion was not supported by stakeholder…
There are many different tools in our armoury to be able to support the tillage sector as part of the CAP negotiations. I attended a meeting with the Irish Grain Growers and the IFA in Killashee Hotel to which more than 1,000 tillage farmers turned up. Deputy Byrne and I know tillage farmers do not protest much or in those kinds of numbers but they did on this occasion, such is the level of desperation after three re…
We absolutely need to design this scheme and make sure the €30 million I have secured for budget 2026 is targeted at the farmers. I want to do this differently from the last scheme. The last scheme provided a much-needed €100 for every hectare that had seed in the ground, with no capping or conditionality around it. We can be more targeted with this €30 million, get it to those who need it the most and increase the v…
I thank the Deputy for raising this very important point. Since early November, there have been four outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza, HPAI, caused by the H5N1 virus in turkey flocks in counties Carlow, Meath, Monaghan and, most recently, unfortunately, Laois.
My Department has been implementing disease control and eradication measures in line with the EU animal health law provisions and national legis…
In terms of compensation in general, the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 provides that compensation to owners of animals may be payable if a cull of those animals is directed by the Department of agriculture in the event of an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza. The compensation may relate to the animal that is culled, or to an animal product, animal feed or similar item that is destroyed in relation to…
I confirm it is very possible that the Deputy will be able to eat turkey on Christmas Day. I very much hope that will be the case. We all know how important that is. I do not jest. This is important to our turkey farmers. I have huge sympathy for the four flocks that have been impacted. It is a devastating blow to an individual flock owner. On the broader scale, it is important to reiterate to the public that it is s…
I thank the Deputy for raising this point. While he is in a different constituency, he is the TD who lives closest to me, as we straddle the border between Kildare and west Wicklow.
The challenge of generational renewal in farming has been widely recognised at both national and EU level. The programme for Government prioritises supporting intergenerational farm succession. Food Vision 2030, our shared strategy for t…
I agree with the Deputy in many ways. The question I am most often asked about generational renewal is whether there will be a scheme in the next CAP or what it will look like. I want to be able to develop a succession scheme and I hope to have the resources to do that, but young trained farmers will not make life-long decisions based on whether they get one grant in 2028 and put everything on hold until then.
Gener…
The fair deal scheme has had a specific impact on farmers. While it is not under my remit or that of the Department of agriculture, I have engaged with previous Ministers for Health on it and I would be happy to work with the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, on this area as well. The last Government made changes around it and we want to be able to give certainty, clarity and comfort to people who are planning the t…
I thank Deputy Kenny for raising an important point. It gets to the heart of what we do. From a food safety and public health perspective, a lot of the conversation in Ireland has tended to be about sustainability in recent years, what our farmers are doing, producing food sustainably and profit. When we travel abroad on a trade mission, the first thing that is mentioned, particularly in places like Asia and beyond, …
Trade is two-way. In response to the Deputy's original question, I said clearly that we are in a space where we need to have absolute confidence that any food that comes into the EU meets our standards. Our sanitary and phytosanitary, SPS, food safety standards are non-negotiable. They are the standards to which we expect our farmers to produce food in the EU and we do not accept secondary standards for anything that…
It is about balance but we benefit largely from it because we export 90% of the food and drink we produce. We absolutely need it to be a level playing field. We need to make sure those standards are there, that there is confidence in our products, whether the food is produced in Europe or comes in. We will reiterate those points, but the checks and balances are there. This is non-negotiable for the EU. It is strong o…
I cannot be any clearer than I have been. At every AGRIFISH Council meeting, I have raised Mercosur and our concerns about it. I am not the lead Minister with responsibility for that; it is the responsibility of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, who has that key consideration. I take my role at the Cabinet table seriously. I use my role as a representative and custodian of our farmers and food producing ind…
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Unfortunately, there have been four outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in turkey flocks since early November, one each in counties Carlow, Meath, Monaghan and, most recently, Laois. I express my sympathy to the flock owners concerned. I acknowledge the worry this situation is causing to all those in the poultry industry in Ireland. These outbreaks follow the det…