Whether it is farmers with particular issues that are leading to environmental issues or issues with structures that need to be replaced, we are very lucky to have capital support in agriculture. I really believe in our TAMS structure. For me, the targeted agriculture modernisation scheme gets to the heart of generation renewal and hits the issues of climate, environment and animal welfare. The scheme is demand-led a…
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
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| 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
The answer to the second question is that I am not aware of them, if they do exist. I am happy to talk to the Minister for housing, who regularly brings updates on the defective blocks scheme to Cabinet. The Government is using billions of euro of taxpayers’ money to support the very people the Deputy is talking about in terms of their family homes and the awful blight that has happened to people because of defective…
I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this issue, which was discussed many times in this House earlier in the year.
I welcome the report following the completion of the independent governance review into the board of Bord Bia. My Department met with Governance Ireland, which carried out the independent review, and the board of Bord Bia on the day the report was published to discuss its findings and recommendations. The r…
The issues in this area have been well aired, and I am on the record of the House as having clearly outlined the facts as they are. I am not going to rehash them, but the Deputy talks about things at the heart of the matter. I will tell him what is at the heart of the matter. It is the price that farmers get for their beef, lamb, dairy produce and beyond. It is about how we can best, as a country that exports 90% of …
The work of Origin Green and Bord Bia is integral to that.
The work of the governance review has helped to strengthen that position and that work can continue.
I am not.
I am at the heart of the central point that matters to farmers, which is the income from their produce and the structures we have in place as a State to support them and get the best return for our market value.
How does the Deputy think we doubled the value of Irish farmers' exports and produce, from about €10 billion in 2010 to €20.8 billion last year? We did that through the work of Origin Green, the work of our farmers and others, and the work of Bord Bia in promoting and supporting Irish agrifood businesses that are selling Irish farmers' produce and giving that best possible price return to our farmers.
We also have t…
I also have to look at the threats here, which include the UK post Brexit, the deals it has done with Australia and New Zealand and the price pressure that is going to put on our market sales in a country where over 50% of our beef goes. The reason we have such a strong and dominant position in the British market-----
-----is the equivalence in food standards with the Red Tractor quality assurance scheme. I will not stand for us drifting away from that and allowing the undermining of our quality assurance scheme, which has served us so well. I will not let that happen on my watch.
I thank the Deputy for raising this important point. I enjoy his engagement on all things agriculture. I am not sure how many farmers there are in his constittuency but there are a lot of consumers, and I have no doubt they appreciate and enjoy the produce of our farmers.
In Ireland, the sale of raw milk for direct consumption is governed by legislation commonly known as the hygiene package. Regulation EC Nos. 852 a…
We are getting plenty of vitamin D at the minute, which is well received. Our safety standards are beyond reproach in Ireland. When I go on international trade missions - I have just been discussing the value of our trade exports - the first thing discussed in places like Asia and beyond is how trusted our food safety standards are. That is really important. It is not something we will ever be complacent about. It is…
Thankfully, Irish farmers' food produce is really nutrient dense and protein rich. There is a question scheduled for later today about the threat and impact of GLP-1s on our food-producing nation. These new drugs make people consume 30% less food and drink. I see this as a massive opportunity. If you are on a GLP-1, you are more aware of the additives. People are becoming more aware all the time of vitamins B and D, …
I thank the Deputy for raising this important point. A key focus of Food Vision 2030, the shared stakeholder-led strategy for the agrifood sector, is to grow the value of Irish agrifood exports in international markets, which, as I outlined earlier, we have been very successful at in recent years. In 2025, Irish exports were recorded at €20.8 billion, with exports to over 180 countries worldwide.
Given the dependenc…
I completely agree with the Deputy. This is a great success story. It is important and we are ambitious. The company the Deputy described from his constituency in County Offaly is a great example, as are many more in the Deputy's county, of the strength of our food companies. The strength of their products and their innovation is that they take farmers' produce to the market place and they are supported by the State …
A fair indication of what we will do in the future is what we have done recently. We went on trade missions such as to Seoul Food in Korea, Japan Expo, China, Germany, London and United Arab Emirates, where we went to Gulfood. Every Minister takes the opportunity of the St. Patrick's Day missions to promote the work, with Bord Bia and Enterprise Ireland, of our food and drinks companies. It can be Irish whiskey, dair…
I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. We have discussed the bovine TB plan a lot in this House, this year and last year, because bovine TB is an ongoing challenge, as the Deputy is aware, for farmers in Clare and all over the country. I am acutely aware of the emotional and financial impacts bovine TB has on farmers, their families and rural Ireland. That is why I am absolutely determined to drive dow…
In addition to the compensation package for eligible reactor animals that are removed during a TB breakdown, my Department operates three supplementary schemes that assist farmers with the indirect losses incurred as a result of a TB breakdown on their farm. They are the income supplement scheme, depopulation grant scheme and hardship grant scheme. As part of the work of the TB forum, a dedicated financial working gr…
I thank the Deputy for articulating the points as clearly as he did and with passion.
I understand the points the Deputy is making but as a senior Cabinet Minister, I also need to have full cognisance of the overall cost of the TB programme. Farmers may think that putting €157 million into a TB programme does not impinge on my ability to spend in other areas of the Department where the Ministers of State, Deputies D…
I thank Deputy Byrne for raising this critical issue. It is one of the key issues of our time as regards our agricultural and fisheries sectors and beyond. It is not specific to Ireland or even to Europe. In Ireland, we have the extra challenge that farm families put huge store in educating their children very well, and are aided by the State in doing so, and those children then graduate into an economy at full emplo…
That is absolutely the intention. On the funding element, we obviously cannot make any commitments as to what the next CAP will look like for us here in Ireland until we know how much money we have to play with. However, the Deputy is right about Commissioner Hansen's ambitions. The EU's vision for agriculture and food identified generational renewal as a priority. This is reflected in the proposals for a post-2027 C…
I agree that the goals are ambitious. They need to be because we have a very big problem here. The average age of a farmer is 57 or 58. That is far too high. It is creating a whole range of challenges from farm safety to delayed innovation and investment and beyond. These wider issues are a nut we really need to crack. I recognise the role of Macra. I guarantee the Deputy that its president, Josephine O'Neill, is ver…
I thank Deputy Dempsey for raising this really important issue. It is something I am passionate about. In order to bring a coherent approach to dog control, policy and legislative responsibility under both the Control of Dogs Act 1986 and the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010 transferred to my Department last year. That was part of the agreement in the programme for Government. It was a wise move. I supported it d…
I thank Deputy Dempsey for those points. First of all, to reassure her, the constituents she has met and the dog breeders across the country who do dog breeding well have nothing to fear from this legislation. This is to stop bad practice by any bad actors who might be in this for monetary gain, who do not care about the dogs and who are doing it to exploit any vulnerability that is in the law at the minute. Our job …