I move:
1) THAT section 99A of the Finance Act 1999 (No. 2 of 1999) be amended, with effect as on and from 25 March 2026, by the substitution of the following for subsection (3) (as amended by section 42 of the Finance Act 2019 (No. 45 of 2019)):
"(3) Where –
(a) gas oil has been purchased on or after 1 January 2020 and before 1 January 2026, or on or after 1 July 2026, then, subject to a maximum repayment rate of…
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
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and giving me the opportunity to provide an update on the situation. Bluetongue is a viral disease that can cause severe clinical signs in ruminant species, such as cattle, sheep, goats, deer and camelids, such as alpacas and llamas. There are many different serotypes of bluetongue virus, and bluetongue virus serotype 3, BTV3, is the serotype circulating in Ireland …
In my initial answer I said that different forms of testing have discovered those cases. The very first case was found in the standard testing of a carcase post-slaughter in an abattoir, which identified that there were antibodies present indicating that the disease was present last year.
Yes, exactly. We investigated the remaining animals in that herd and in the neighbouring herds within the radius of the farm. Some of them were found to be positive, in the sense that they had it previously. If it is the case that we find one that is positive in January or February, how we respond in January is very different from how we respond in July because an animal will only be infectious for about 60 days, so …
First and foremost, the cost of the vaccine is a commercial decision. We have made sure there is enough availability, working with the private suppliers of the vaccines. I am reviewing all options open to me to be able to support the sector in what is a very new challenge for us at a very challenging time. This is a real and dynamic response to a real and dynamic situation that has been evolving. We did a remarkable …
On Deputy Kenny's point about wildlife, this is not passed from animal to animal but obviously it will be a challenge if the deer population has it and a midge lands on it but they will not pass it to each other.
I have a response here to the question the Deputy put down on the animal welfare strategy. The term of Ireland’s Animal Welfare Strategy 2021-2025: Working Together for Animal Welfare, our first ever animal welfare strategy, reached a conclusion at the end of last year. In 2025, a process was initiated to develop a new animal welfare strategy, which will act as a framework for engagement and collaboration to direct f…
It is unfortunate that if the Deputy intended to concentrate solely on greyhound racing, she did not just ask-----
It is unfortunate she did not ask a question specifically on that because her question was on the broader animal welfare strategy, which is much broader than that. I disagree with some of the points she made, which are a dreadful slight on the thousands of people who work in our greyhound racing industry and who love the dogs and care for them greatly.
A throwaway comment on the floor of Parliament where she says that there is hardly any traceability is not borne out by the facts. The financial support my colleagues in the Department of agriculture and I are happy to provide for the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund has seen increased allocations towards the area of welfare.
On the question that was raised, I want to look at some of the success of the previous strat…
As I said, responsibility for canine welfare, and the control and breeding of dogs, has recently come into my Department. I fought for it in the programme for Government talks. I feel it is a better fit coming under the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine because we also share the responsibility for animal welfare. I look forward to introducing legislation later this year to tighten up measures and make im…
I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for raising the important issue of live exports. Whether it is live exports or agrifood, my role and that of my Department is to ensure market access for Irish farmers' produce. We need to provide the greatest number of opportunities and outlets to give the best possible return for those who export it and the companies that handle it. Obviously, that will drive a return for the farmers who …
While I accept that and accept it is difficult for exporters at the moment, and they are meeting a lot of competition from farmers in the marts for these cattle, too, because of a shortage of cattle and a big demand from farmers for them, which makes it a challenging space, I think we would be having a much different conversation here if I had failed to reopen trade with Northern Ireland and if we had failed to gain …
As I said, there is ongoing engagement between exporters and officials in my Department, particularly in the veterinary health section. That was recognised in terms of the revised health certificates for Tunisia, which were secured on 18 February, and Algeria, to which we saw approximately 3,500 cattle exported in 2025 and 2,000 in 2024. That is all really important.
The Deputy is dead right that live exports are an…
I thank Deputy Cleere for raising the really important issue of the Common Agricultural Policy. Ireland's priorities in negotiating the CAP post 2027 are to ensure that the CAP remains properly funded, continues to support viable farm incomes and contributes to food security, rural development and environmental sustainability. The CAP plays a vital role in supporting farmers and rural communities and in underpinning …
I concur completely on the importance of the Common Agricultural Policy. We can talk about all the structures, all the rules and all the simplification that we can try to bring in and that I will look to bring in as we design a new scheme, but at its heart is the funding. If the overall funding envelope is 20% less than it was the last time, that is a very significant impact for our country.
The Deputy is dead right…
That is it exactly. The Deputy has articulated very clearly the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy on all of our rural communities. How do we achieve that? We achieve it in a number of ways. The Deputy identified generational renewable as one of the challenges of our time. This is not a challenge unique to us in Ireland or in even Europe. With growing urbanisation around the world and the fact that in Ireland w…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 83 and 113 together.
The European Commission published its legislative proposals for the post-2027 Common Agricultural Policy in July last year, as part of its wider proposals for the next multi-annual financial framework, MFF, covering the period 2028-2034. Discussions on these proposals are currently ongoing at EU level. Under the Denmark Presidency and the Cyprus Presidency the pr…
I would like to join with Deputy Healy-Rae-----
To go back to Deputy Kenny's assertions regarding the changes to the definition of an "active farmer" for forestry, I back the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, in saying that the Deputy is wrong.
It is not only us who are saying the Deputy is wrong. The Social, Economic, Environmental Forestry Association of Ireland also says he is wrong in that it has very much welcomed these changes and said that they will help small farmers in the area of forestry and beyond. It is very easy to polarise these issues and the Deputy is dead right; I have no doubt I will be back here disagreeing with him again on other defini…
I am sorry. I thought I had dealt with the budget point clearly. It is our top priority. While it is not just me, I raise this at every single AGRIFISH meeting and in every engagement with Commissioner Hansen and other members of the Commission. The Tánaiste also raises the issue in his role in ECOFIN, as does the Taoiseach, who is in Brussels today. In all of those budget negotiations, there is a clear understanding…
I thank Deputy O'Hara for raising the important matter of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. The Government has been very clear about Ireland’s concerns in relation to the EU-Mercosur agreement and has expressed these consistently over a number of years, particularly in relation to the agreement's potential impact on the beef sector, the strength of its climate and sustainability commitments, and the production standar…
I can go back over all of the times I have raised my opposition to the Mercosur deal in the AGRIFISH Council and in bilateral meetings. I have also been very frank and clear on that in my public utterances, on the floor of this House, in Brussels and in media interviews I have done on the issue. An element of the Deputy's question should be directed towards the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade.
This is a broad…
Before I talk about anything I am doing next, the first thing I have to do is to counter what the Deputy just said on the floor of this House. It is complete false. I have been clear on this issue. At a meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on 27 January 2025, when I was four days into the job, I spoke about how I was opposed to the Mercosur trade deal and articulated that perspective very clea…