Danny Healy-Rae presses for £65m for 'green families' and flags pesticide risks

Thank you very much, Chairman. First of all, I want to welcome each and every one of you in here. And as you see, we have a serious problem. And I suppose the first question I have to ask you, as department officials, I don't know who's who, have you heard anything about the promise of 65 million by the two main parties in government? They announced it in their pre-election manifesto. So have you heard anything about this for the green families? That's a policy question, Deputy. It wouldn't be for the civil servants to be answering policy questions. Would I only ask them to have the hand in it? He had nothing, so... It wouldn't be for them to... The negotiations are ongoing. He told the people, while they're not to vote for independence. You're setting your brother apart. One voice, please. So the Minister is engaging with the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure on our budgetary allocation for 2026. And I think the Minister has been clear that in his priorities for Budget 26, Tillich is included as one of his main priorities. Well, I hope that they deliver, but I do also hope that they don't take it from the sheep farmers. But anyway, I was amazed to hear Matt Dempsey there because in relation to the differential between what's demanded of Irish farmers and beyond the farmers that are exporting to Ireland, they are not required. We don't know what they're putting into, you know, into the land to grow the grain. Do we do any checks in what's in the grain or what's driving the grain or how they grew it? We are being told that we can't only use... We can use protected jury only next year. So we have a very comprehensive animal feed safety programme where we conduct official controls on feed imported into the country. There is a commitment from the Commission in their vision for agriculture to seek to have a stronger alignment on production standards applied to imported products with regard to pesticides, for example. So we are well aware of concerns around the import tolerance that's set for pesticides from time to time, and this matter has been raised with the Commission. We are also... The Commission have a recent call for a simplification process around feed and food safety rules, and that includes in pesticides. And we are expecting an impact assessment at the back end of this year from the Commission. So I think there are things happening to try and address maybe some of that, I suppose... All right, so can I ask, has there been any assessments up until now? No, so that we're awaiting the Commission's assessment in relation to those production standards. And that may lead to regulatory proposals. And it is something that we're aware of, that we're engaging with on, and, you know, it's well understood. Can I say here, Chairman, that the Warden BAE will have to be taken note of it. It should be a regulatory proposal, and the same standards will have to be insisted on from the people that are exporting in here, as to these poor fellows behind my back, that the standards are demanded of them already. There's an unfairness there that has to be sorted out, and I'm very concerned about it. And we also have a serious health issue here with cancer, and we don't know what's in their grain. So if we're indecisible, we do know what's in the Irish grain that's being produced here. That's not fair, Chairman. We want this highlighted right away to the Minister and make him understand. And now's the time to back these for us and give them the £65 million and insist on the same standards with the grain coming in and that the people buying it can only buy that grain. Because that could be hurting and damaging our population, our youngsters, our old people, and it's a very serious matter. How soon is that assessment going to take place? Can I just say, in relation to the import tolerances with regard to pesticides, I want to be very clear that the EU regulations allow for those import tolerances to be set to facilitate trade, provided that the use is authorised in a third country and that there is no risk to the health of EU consumers as determined by EFSA. So I just want to be very clear on that, so there is no health risk. Thank you. And the last thing that I'll say... Very briefly. Very briefly. You see, there's a whole lot of talk about carbon footprint and sequestering carbon, and these fellows are doing it automatically. And they need to be compensated for that. If there's no other reason why they should get help, that's a reason, because we seem to be spending any amount of money on climate action and stopping fellows of going here and going there and doing this and doing that. But these fellows are helping the carbon footprint and they deserve to be compensated for it or reimbursed for it.