Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
1. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will work with the representatives of inshore fishermen to introduce an inshore fisheries stabilisation and climate adaptation scheme; and if he has engaged with the European Commissioner for Fisheries and Oceans, Costas Kadis, or his office to make the case for such a scheme. [70178/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe question is clear. We have raised this in every single priority question for months. It is the issue of the inshore fisheries legalisation and climate adaptation scheme. This has come from the National Inshore Fishermen's Association, NIFA, on behalf of inshore fishermen throughout the State. The fishermen have never asked for this before; they have only wanted to fish. However, they are and have been at crisis point and we need a dedicated scheme. What the Government is doing about it?
I thank the Deputy for this question. I send apologies on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who is at the Atlantic Summit Galway event, participating in it with Commissioner Kadis, which is very important.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister of State has met with the NIFA. The Minister of State and I have engaged with other representatives of the inshore sector on several occasions throughout the year. We are very aware of the challenges facing the inshore fisheries sector.
Ireland’s €258 million Seafood Development Programme 2021-2027, which is co-funded by the Government and the EU Commission under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, EMFAF, is the primary source of funding for the Irish commercial seafood sector, including the inshore sector. My Department has reviewed all funding mechanisms available, either through the seafood development programme or other state aid routes to ascertain if there was a possibility to introduce a financial stabilisation scheme for inshore fishermen. Ireland, as an EU member state, is required to comply with the state aid regulations. The European Commission oversees the application of state aid rules among member states. Failure to comply with state aid rules, such as a failure to provide notification to the European Commission or implementing the aid without approval, can result in the member state being required to recover any aid provided. These rules also provide for added interest to be applied.
As the managing authority for the EMFAF programme in Ireland, a range of projects and industry supports to the inshore sector are already provided by agencies of the Department under the programme. These include the seafood training scheme, seafood capacity building scheme, young fisher scheme and the small-scale coastal fisheries scheme. The seafood capacity building scheme and the seafood training scheme are open, with the small-scale coastal fisheries scheme due to reopen in mid-October 2026.
In addition to the above, a scheme specifically for the inshore fleet was implemented in 2024 and 2025 under the seafood development programme: the inshore fleet economic assessment scheme. I will go into more detail on what is to happen next in supplementaries.
I am going to be honest and frank with the Minister. That is an absolutely shocking response.
That is the first part of the response.
For months, I have asked: is the Minister going to engage with the EU Commissioner on this matter? We have been told through the NIFA, which has engaged directly with the EU Commissioner, that there is no barrier to this but there has to be a case made by the Irish Government. It is clear from the Minister's response that has not been done.
I am absolutely shocked - unless the Minister has a follow-up response in a minute - that he has not actually asked the Commissioner if can we do this. Our inshore fishermen are in crisis. I am completely exasperated because I have raised this for months. The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, must know the scale of the crisis for inshore fishermen all around the coast in terms of fuel, baits and the instability of market prices. The Minister is reading the responses written by Department officials. He and the Minister of State are political leaders. They need to be engaging with the European Commissioner. The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, is with the Commissioner today. Could the Minister lift the phone whenever he is finished here, ring the Minister of State and ask him to raise this issue with the Commissioner today and get the funding for inshore fishermen that they desperately need?
With the greatest respect to the Deputy, the response I have given is the first of three. We have two supplementaries here, so we will get to that. The point I was going to get to is that as part of our budget negotiations, I secured €20 million towards the Berkery report. We see that pretty much as a half-year allocation on the basis of using that money towards some existing schemes, but also looking at new opportunities as well. The intention of the additional fund is to expand the current seafood development programme schemes and establish future support schemes for the seafood sector, taking into consideration some of the models that were successfully implemented under the Brexit adjustment reserve, BAR, programme and adapting them as appropriate to the policy objective ultimately agreed by the Government - those of us who are the policymakers, to take up the point made by the Deputy. The scheme was developed by the Department under the BAR regulation and includes direct transition supports for fishing vessels, seafood processors, aquaculture enterprises, fishery co-operatives and the wider coastal and blue economy together with capital here as well. We have the Berkery report, and we secured additional funding and the inshore sector is an integral part of that and it is going to be part of the solution.
The problem is that an announcement was made in the budget of €20 million. When we consider the scale of the crisis in our fishing community, that would not even scratch the surface. The problem is also that the inshore fishermen and the islands fishermen do not have a clue if there is anything in the Berkery report for them. Inshore fishermen suspect there is nothing in that report for them. We have a situation where 2,000 licence-holders - inshore fishermen - do not have a clue if there is going to be any financial support. We should remember that they did not benefit from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund. They did not get any fuel subsidy or tie-up scheme. They got nothing because they were not affected in the way the offshore sector was, but they were affected by prices going up and the crisis. I am genuinely appealing to the Minister that whenever we are finished here today with these questions, to please phone the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, and ask him to engage with the EU Commissioner, who he is with today? That is fair enough. Could he tell him there is a crisis affecting inshore fishermen and we need his consent and co-operation to get a scheme? This is an excellent proposal, which I will revisit in a minute.
In very simple terms, what we are doing and what I outlined in my opening response is the range of supports for the inshore sector already. The Deputy says the inshore sector is in crisis; the entire fishery sector is in crisis. We know that. That is why we have the Berkery report. That is why I was able to secure additional money for 2027, which will look at existing schemes. I see it from all parts of the Department. The most efficient way of doing it, from an administrative point of view, is using existing models of funding and getting the best amount of that money out to the stakeholders rather than spending extra money on designing new schemes, which also takes time.
I have deliberately highlighted the challenges around state aid rules and the implications there. The Opposition does not have to focus on that. They are the nuts and bolts of getting approval to do any scheme that matters to the inshore and every other sector in fisheries. We have funding there for next year to put in place structures where we can put additional support into existing schemes and look at new measures. Requests of the Commission will be a key component of that.
The Minister must appreciate my frustration. My time is up.
3. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for an update on negotiations of the Common Agricultural Policy. [70366/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI want to ask the Minister where we are at in respect of the CAP negotiations. We need an update on the CAP. Ireland has the Presidency and there was great hope that progress would be made in that context. We were coming into this with the possibility of a 22% cut in the CAP, which has alarmed farmers across Europe and particularly here in Ireland, who depend so much on it. I would like an update on where the negotiations are at because we have seen a situation emerging in recent days where other countries in Europe are looking for an even larger cut than what had been proposed. I would like to get a clear update as to where we stand in respect of that.
I thank the Deputy for the question. CAP is the number one priority from the agriculture perspective in terms of this autumn period, not just because Ireland has the Presidency, but because the decisions that are being made and the progress that has been made to date are critically important for what will matter for the agriculture sector for the next seven years. The European Commission published its legislative proposals for the CAP for the period 2028 to 2034 in July of last year. Following publication, negotiations began with detailed technical examination by member states in the Council working party and subsequently moved on to drafting compromise texts.
Since Ireland assumed the Presidency of the Council on 1 July this year, we have continued this work intensively. The Irish Presidency engaged with member states through bilateral consultations and formal Council discussions to identify outstanding issues for member states with the CAP regulation. I had the informal meeting here in Dublin and in Kildare in September. I had Council meetings in July and September, as well as the three that are ahead of us for the remaining three months of this year. Arising from these discussions, further compromise texts have been drafted and presented to member states.
At the most recent AGRIFISH Council meeting, Ministers took stock of the progress made and provided political guidance on the outstanding issues. Ministers welcomed the progress achieved to date and were broadly supportive of the Irish Presidency's plan to advance negotiations. Our focus now is on resolving the remaining issues over the coming weeks, through further technical work and political discussions with member states and the European Commission. We will work to develop a text that addresses these issues and has the broadest possible support among member states.
My objective has been clear; it is to reach a partial general approach on the CAP regulation at the AGRIFISH Council meetings in Luxembourg on 26 and 27 of this month. A partial general approach, or PGA as it is known, would mean that the Council has reached agreement on all aspects of the CAP regulation except for those that form part of the negotiation box of the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, which will ultimately be decided by Heads of State and Government at European Council level. I have more detail which I can go into in the replies to supplementary questions.
I appreciate that. I also appreciate the work that is being done. The Minister said the compromise text has been advanced to some extent. What we would like to get is a little detail as to where we are at in regard to the funding. The plan depends on whether we have got the money. That is the big issue that most farmers are concerned about. I appreciate the Minister's concern about it as well. I have stated that clearly. How have we been able to use the leverage that we have with the Presidency of the EU over this six-month period to ensure that we have a CAP that reflects the needs of farmers, and the needs of consumers and food security across the EU? That is the key problem that we have here. The whole focus across the EU has been on arms, protection, defence and so on, and the CAP has been pushed to one side. That is the experience people are relaying back to me, not just here in Ireland but from Brussels as well. We need a very clear statement from the Minister that the money we were afraid we were going to lose has been restored. Has that happened and has progress been made to make sure that will happen?
What I outlined at the start was the work that has been undertaken by me at the AGRIFISH Council working towards the partial general approach of the Council of the other 26 Ministers for agriculture - the elements of the CAP regulation that are within our control. Parts of that are bracketed and have the financial piece beside it and they are impacted by the negotiation box. The Irish Presidency will publish the latest draft of the negotiation box this weekend. That will outline the further positions around the MFF, the overall budget.
I have a very ambitious target for the PGA at the Council that I believe is achievable. Given the significance of the CAP as a common EU policy, it is important that as a Council of agriculture Ministers we reach a conclusion on the CAP sectoral regulation. I understand why most farmers just want to jump to where the money is at, but I have got to do the CAP regulation at the same time because the MFF is progressing. I am reflecting the view of the entire Council. The entire AGRIFISH Council of 27 member states is clearly united that we need an adequately funded CAP. That is a given. That is what I have been saying for the past 20 months when I have been a Minister in this position and that is what I still reflect as President of the Council.
I appreciate that and I understand it. We look forward to this weekend when hopefully clarity will be brought to it if it is being published.
I want to raise another issue with the Minister in respect of that. One of the things that alarmed a lot of farmers in Ireland because of the ageing nature of our farming community is the proposal coming in that if a farmer is in receipt of a pension, he would not be able to receive funds under CAP.
We need clarity on that as well because it has alarmed an awful lot of people in the farming community.
Generational renewal is another issue, which of course, we also need to see progress on. CAP needs to be central to that as well. I absolutely appreciate that the regulations and getting all this right is part of it as well, but none of that can happen unless we know we have the money and the funds in place to deliver it. The difficulty that farmers have is that they see all the time that money being diminished and diminished for other things and not going back into food security, which is vital for the European Union. It was the basis on which the whole lot was set up for in the very beginning. I ask the Minister to give me clarity on those two issues in addition to further assurance that this weekend we will know where we stand. Regarding the proposal, he said he is ambitious around it. Does ambition mean that he is going to ensure that we will restore the full amount or that we propose to lose that 22%?
The Deputy has to put those questions to the Department of Finance and the Taoiseach. Ultimately, the financial element will be sorted at the European Council meetings of the Prime Ministers. A negotiation box will be published by the Irish Presidency. I do not handle the MFF, but I have had significant input as chair of the AGRIFISH Council under the Irish Presidency. The broader point to explain here is that there are three legs to this stool. There is the Commission. Commissioner Hansen made his proposals in July of last year. There is the Council, which is the 27 Ministers for agriculture of every member state. I am chairing that Council now. There is the EU Parliament. By agreeing the CAP sectorial regulation, which I am progressing and getting to, that will be our bit finished. Commissioner Hansen had his proposals last year. Our MEPs are working on their proposals, and they will be concluded by January, then we move into the trilogue phase. That runs concurrent to the funding. The funding is key. It is absolutely imperative. The Commissioner made the proposal around the mandatory pension element. Other member states and I have clearly expressed the view that we do not-----
Is it off the table?
-----agree with that. Everything is on the table-----
That concludes the question.
-----until everything is agreed. It is absolutely in the mix there. That will be the trilogues where the Council position will be one. The Commission will have the other and the European Parliament will have the other. We will be into next year before that detail is finally confirmed.
As we proceed, I ask Members to stick to their allocated time. I do not want to be cutting across their contributions, but I am not here to allow Members to speak beyond the time that has been given them.
I apologise.
4. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will ban industrial puppy farming by adding a cap on the maximum number of breeding bitches permitted under the forthcoming dog breeding establishments (amendment) Bill 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71049/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Minister knows, Ireland has the pretty shameful title as the puppy farm capital of Europe. More than 122,000 dogs were registered last year. Some were raised in pretty horrific conditions. Will the Minister amend the forthcoming dog breeding establishments (amendment) Bill 2026 to ban industrial puppy farming by capping the maximum number of breeding females?
I thank the Deputy for raising this and highlighting what we all know, which is that legislation in this regard is not where we want it to be. That is why I have been very determined to make significant change. I was part of the programme for Government talks. I very much was somebody who agreed with the transfer of responsibility for the Control of Dogs Act and the Dog Breeding Establishments Act. The policy and legislative responsibility under the Control of Dogs Act and the Dog Breeding Establishment Act came under my Department last year. In both cases, local authorities retain responsibility for all operational and enforcement matters. Previously, that was spread across three Departments, which was not right. I did that because I want to make significant progress in this space. That is why on 19 May this year I published draft legislation - the dog breeding establishments (amendment) Bill 2026 - to update existing regulatory framework for dog establishments in Ireland across three key areas: welfare and breeding, sales and record keeping and administration and enforcement. The Bill was approved for priority drafting and is undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny at the Oireachtas joint committee on agriculture.
The Deputy asked about specific provisions. We are to start a significant legislative process. I look forward to working with all Members of this House and the Seanad, as well as the Oireachtas committee as we progress this legislation that is very much needed. It is a key determination of mine to change our rules regarding how operations happen here. The legislation seeks to address the concerns about excessive numbers through a mandatory staffing ratio of 1:20, which creates an indirect but real constraint on establishment size. The strengthened improvement notice regime will explicitly empower authorised persons to require a reduction in the number of dogs on premises where welfare concerns arise.
Local authorities also retain the ability to set conditions on the number of breeding females as part of the registration process and this avenue remains open to them, particularly in respect of new applications.
Regarding the question on the cap on the number of breeding females, I have not ruled that out. We will look at this. We will debate it as we should with any good legislation but a hard legislative cap has not been included on the total number of breeding females at a dog establishment in the current draft heads of Bill. I will go through some of the constraints that we will face on that.
I recognise and welcome that there is some recognition of the problem here. Behind these beautiful cute puppies, over 100,000 a year are dogs kept in horrific conditions. There are up to 300 breeding bitches in one establishment alone. They are kept in cages without water, food, bedding, entertainment, engagement, etc. They are industrial products to produce as many puppies as possible. When they are done producing puppies, there is no more use for them. It is pretty horrific. The main point I wish to make is that I do not see how we can stop the abuses that are happening in this industry without having a limit on the number of bitches allowed in an establishment. There is over 20 allowed more than 100. In the most recent figures, there is at least one with 300. We are talking about thousands of puppies on that basis. We need to deal with the numbers to tackle industrial breeding.
We are in agreement that there is unacceptable practice happening that we want to address. There are some very good practices that do this well and right. For them, they have nothing to fear from this legislation because we are going to shine a light on good practice and shine a light if there is bad practice and stamp it out. That is ultimately my ambition here. The legal advice indicates that there are difficulties with the capping element. This is something that we will discuss throughout the legislative process. There are also practical issues that have to be explored further. My Department will engage with the Office of the Attorney General to explore the question of a cap during the formal drafting stage. I look forward to progressing this legislation as a priority because the provisions will make a significant difference in the welfare of breeding dogs and their pups.
The point the Deputy raised is valid. There are lots of people at home who might be watching this debate who have a much-loved family pet who they bought off somebody. It was advertised on a website. They met them in a public car park somewhere, bought it and do not know the breeding establishment that it came from or the conditions that its mother went through and beyond. This legislation will change that. Those people will only be able to purchase or sell animals in the breeding establishment. It will shine a light on where that practice is as well as a range of other conditions that I will go into in the next supplementary reply.
Regarding some of the limits of what is currently set out in the heads of Bill, there is no ban on surgical artificial insemination and no cap on the size of farms, which is the focus of this question. The Minister said that the staff ratio creates an indirect limit. One staff member per 25 bitches means that one staff member could be responsible for over 100 dogs. There is some sort of total that there is not going to be tens of thousands of dogs on a farm, but when we add up the number the puppies, it is not that much of a limit. There is also a series of bans but if a vet says otherwise, the ban no longer exists. We need to take a hard approach to stop Ireland functioning as this. We do not want the reputation as Ireland being the puppy farm capital of Europe and all the horrific conditions that go with it. We do not want to restrict amateurs, people who are breeding in a good way and so on, but there is the idea of this industrial style factory raising dogs.
That is what we are going to change by protecting breeding dogs through their lifetime by limiting it up to four litters, extendable to six years only with veterinary approval. A one litter per year cap will prevent repeat breeding within a short timeframe giving breeding bitches appropriate rest and recovery time, which, as the Deputy outlined, is not happening in certain instances right now. New minimum and maximum breeding age limits means that no dog under 12 months or over eight years of age can be bred from. Any dog that has previously undergone two caesarean sections cannot be bred from again. It is hard to believe that inbreeding is not explicitly prohibited and defined in statute but that is something that I will address for the first time in Irish law. It is a practice that is associated with severe health problems for dogs and pups. There is significant change going on here. I am determined to get this right. The Deputy talked about establishments. What is an establishment? A garage is an establishment. A warehouse is an establishment. There are caps in there through the staffing numbers and the other elements, but this is something that I look forward to engaging with the Deputy and other Members of the House on as we change this important area and strengthen the legislation in this space.
5. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the allocation on carbon tax to agriculture from 2020 to 2025 and to date in 2026; and the projected intake until 2030, yearly. [71037/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2020 to 2025, inclusive, what were the amounts allocated to the Minister's Department annually? Will he also comment on 2026 and the future projected figures?
I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice. I cannot give him the future projected figures because I do not know where we will be on that. However, my Department received €173 million in carbon tax funding in 2026, €170 million of which is to be used to support the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, which is set out in Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027. ACRES supports over 54,000 farmers who undertake actions that benefit the environment, helping to improve outcomes on biodiversity, climate, air and water quality, and incentivise farmers to farm in a greener and more sustainable way. Some €3 million will be used for green agricultural pilots, in particular anaerobic digestion, which has great opportunities for farmers and for the environment in certain instances. The carbon tax funding will also be used to support the delivery of up to 5.7 TWh of indigenously produced biomethane by 2030, as outlined in the national biomethane strategy.
In recent years, alongside the funding of ACRES, examples of some projects my Department has supported through carbon tax funding include the Global Methane Hub, anaerobic digestion and the AgNav sustainability platform, which is really delivering on farmers' sustainability credentials as well.
I will provide this next information to the Deputy in written form, as it is tabular form in the response here, but €3 million a year was provided for the green agricultural pilots from 2020 through to 2022. In 2023, ACRES received €78 million of carbon tax funding. In 2024, it was €110 million. In 2025, it was €140 million. In 2026, it was €170 million. It will be €170 million again in 2027, plus the €3 million for the green pilots and beyond. The carbon tax allocation for my Department for the remaining years to 2030 will be determined each year as part of the annual Estimates process and that is why I cannot provide a prediction.
I did not hear what the figures for 2020 and 2021 were. Will the Minister give me even a rough figure for 2020 to 2025?
One matter needs to be clarified. Before carbon tax ever came in, we had the rural environment protection scheme, REPS. It paid several hundred more euro, on average, to every farmer who was on it. That was true of other schemes before there was a carbon tax, such as the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, although I know GLAS gave €400 or €500 less. Although not in the Minister's time, the sad reality is that money has been cut in the allocation. We took money away from agriculture and now it is throwing it in from the carbon tax.
I am trying to establish the figure that was provided. The programme for Government made a commitment to every person that agriculture would get €1.5 billion between 2020 and 2030. The figures I have at the moment show that it would need to get a woeful injection for the next four or five years to get to that figure.
To answer the Deputy's first question, he will get the figure in tabular form in the response. Doing a quick tot, it was over €200 million from 2020 to 2025. Obviously, that has increased in more recent years.
The Deputy does not have to tell me how good REPS was. I was a member of REPS I and II and they were phenomenal. At that time, the slice of the European pie that went to the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, was bigger, too. That is why, in the previous discussion I have just had with Deputy Kenny, I said how important it was that we get the proposed funding allocation increase on the current proposals around the CAP because a reduced CAP would have very real material impacts. I was a member of GLAS as well.
I understand the challenges that exist in this space but the Government has responded in real time. We paused the planned increases on carbon tax this year in light of the significant energy shocks as a result of the war in the Middle East, and we have given that certainty for the winter ahead.
I thank the Minister. It will be interesting to see the figure when we get it. I did not have the answer when I was coming in. While I am not an admirer of the carbon tax, if it is to be persisted with, I want to see that the commitments that were put into the programme for Government being adhered to and farmers at least getting something out of it. The reality is that if you put a silage outfit out on the road today, your carbon tax bill in one day will be €300. That is one day with a full silage outfit with harvesters, loading shovels, and the fleet of trackers and trailers. That is the reality and there is not an alternative for them at the moment, unfortunately.
The lack of the alternative is the challenge for us in the agriculture space. Look at the use of hydrogenated vegetable oil, HVO, on the hauliers' side and beyond and how that does not materialise for us. That is a challenge for us on the agriculture side, a point I continue to make.
From the perspective of supporting our farmers, I will chase every revenue stream I can. I have just come out of my budget negotiations. I argued the point and I fought the corner for our farmers to get the most amount of money there and to follow every funding stream. We will do the same with CAP out in Europe. The CAP will be what it will be and we will continue to have that process on that, but there is also competitiveness funding. We saw in the past where other money was chased in terms of green requirements and it stopped at the time of Brexit when there were proposals for a 20% or 30% cut in the CAP. That did not happen in the end because alternative sources of money were found. There are a lot of ways and flexibilities to access the money that exists. They are details that we continue to work through.
6. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline the way in which budget 2027 will deliver for tillage farmers. [70946/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraHow will budget 2027 deliver for farmers, particularly tillage farmers?
The tillage sector is an integral part of Irish farming and makes a significant contribution to overall agricultural output, no more so than in Carlow-Kilkenny, which the Deputy represents. The Government recognises the importance of the sector and the challenges it has faced this year and in recent years, particularly higher input costs and the impacts of prolonged dry weather on crop yields and quality. It is the Government's ambition to grow the area in tillage in the years ahead. In recognition of the sector’s importance, my Department is providing at least €50 million in financial support to the tillage sector in 2026 through the protein aid scheme, the straw incorporation measure, SIM, and the national tillage sustainability scheme. Some €30 million in payments under this scheme were issued last March. Additionally, in April this year in response to the exceptional pressure arising from the sudden increase in the cost of marked gas oil, MGO, the Government allocated additional finance to provide meaningful income support for farmers, contractors and fishers.
I also made the decision this year in a very constrained budget scenario to meet the additional asks under straw incorporation because, as has been the case in every year, applications for that far exceeded the €10 million I had allocated for it and I did not want to leave anyone behind. However, that exhausted my SIM budget a year early. Some €50 million was allocated under the CAP strategic plan until the end of 2027 and I exhausted that a year early. It meant I went into these budget negotiations with technically no money for straw next year. Instead of fighting for €50 million, I was starting at a point of €40 million. I was committed to accepting all applicants into the straw incorporation measure this year to give that economic boost, and farmers had the flexibility to withdraw from the scheme in certain circumstances, for example, where straw was required for livestock or the mushroom sector. This helped to safeguard supply across all sectors, which is particularly important this year, given the impact of the prolonged dry weather on fodder.
The farming for water European innovation partnership, EIP, has a budget of €60 million to support targeted on-farm additional measures to improve water quality. That includes the establishment of cover crops. I am delighted to see the tillage sector getting a significant boost from that. It is not just for the dairy sector; everyone has a role to play in terms of water quality.
I thank the Minister. As he knows, we need to ensure that family farms continue to be viable. The importance of food security cannot be underestimated. I welcome the additional €4 million to last year's €50 million. The tillage sector contributes about €1.3 billion annually to the Irish economy, but the sector is in decline and the area under tillage in Ireland has reduced by 40% over the last 40 years. We are not tilling as much land as we were previously. This is the result of numerous pressures on the sector but high-input costs, as the Minister has outlined, are a huge challenge and we need to support farmers in that regard. The competition for land is becoming a major issue, particularly in my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. Then there are the low global grain prices as well. We now have one of the lowest percentages of land devoted to arable cropping among EU countries, at about 6.5% of the utilisable agricultural area. It is a significant challenge and problem.
I acknowledge and welcome the additional supports that will be put in place, but we need to continue to keep a strong eye on this to future-proof the sector in the short, medium and long terms.
I agree. Everything I do has the tillage sector in mind. When I was fighting for an extension of the nitrates derogation for the three years I secured last year, the tillage sector was in my mind as much as the dairy sector. Those farmers the Deputy talks about who are fighting for land availability for tillage in his constituency are competing with dairy farmers, and if dairy farmers had required more land, the Deputy knows what that would have done to the rental market and the pressure it would have applied. When comparing dairy incomes and tillage incomes, there was only going to be one winner in that scenario.
In addition, the tillage sector has received €12.6 million in support under the tillage capital investment scheme under the targeted agriculture modernisation scheme, TAMS, III and receives support under ACRES and the organic farming scheme.
In addition to these supports, the report of the Food Vision 2030 tillage group sets out the roadmap for the sustainable growth and development of the tillage sector. Implementation of the recommendations is ongoing, with progress reviewed regularly by the group. That is another important element of the work and support there.
I welcome in particular the national fertiliser scheme that was announced in the budget. It is a €46.1 million pot in total, and €31 million of that is coming from the Government. The Minister might outline for the House what exactly that might look like for farmers in terms of actual money back in their pockets and how quickly we can get the scheme set up, get it administered and get that funding back into the accounts of farmers. As the Minister knows, it has been a very challenging number of months for the agriculture sector in total but for the tillage sector in particular, what with the summer we have had. It would be great to know how quickly we can get that funding into the accounts.
I had two strands of approach to my budget negotiations. One was to secure funding for important schemes into next year and to hit my key priority areas like supporting the tillage sector, which is important. Second was quick money to farmers in light of the significant impact the energy shocks have had. I was back down to €40 million in terms of my negotiations. I was delighted to get another €14 million for straw to be able to give certainty to tillage farmers. There will be a straw incorporation measure next year and €14 million for it, which will meet the requirements, as previous years' experience would tell us. That is a €54 million package for tillage in total, an increase on last year's €50 million, and that is important.
In terms of the fertiliser scheme, the exceptional aid measure from the EU provided us with €15.4 million and, importantly, the ability to top it up by 200%. Not every member state has done this. This is something I have been negotiating on for the past number of months. I am delighted to get the approval. I have a scheme of €46.1 million. I am finalising the details of how that will operate. I have a significant amount of work done on it already. I plan to make it really simple and really quick, with no administrative burden on farmers and getting money into their pockets before the end of this year based on fertiliser usage and last year's fertiliser database.
