Danny Healy-Rae decries cuts to sheep and calf welfare payments

to discuss the recent cuts in the sheep welfare and beef welfare farm payments, which have happened recently. And I'm very disappointed about this. And the farmers that I'm talking about are seriously very disappointed about it because they had asked prior to the budget that the amounts to receive would be increased. And on Budget Day, we were assured that there wouldn't be an increase but that last year's payments levels would be maintained. And I went back with that story to the people that had me asked. And I'm very disappointed when I learned about a week ago that cuts had taken place and that we weren't getting what we were promised or what we would believe we were to get. And it's a quarter of 75 to 67 for the beef welfare, calf welfare scheme, and it's 13 to 11.50 for a year. And these are farmers that are producing lambs and producing calves. And they have to be seen after. And when you talk about a sheep farmer, I think of many fellas and the type of hills that they have to travel for to collect their sheep to see after them. I think of John Egan, who's now in his mid-70s, and his son, Lynn, and they fertilise their land with a bucket. They can't travel it with any kind of a mechanical vehicle, the manure, the land. And they do so many, 600 or 700 acres manually and things like that and the kind of work they go through to keep the lambs alive and to keep their calves alive. And it's a really hard job. And we're talking about generational renewal and young fellas carry on with farmers. And I mentioned here today to Deputy Killeary about work-life balance. And we must remunerate and reward these farmers because if we don't, there'll be a serious decline. Our hills and valleys won't be grazed. And they'll go wild and we'll have more trouble with fires and all that. But these people have been doing a great job over the years. And they say, the amount of money you could talk about in the individual calf and you are small. But what we are talking about is 2.2 million of a loss to the sheep farmers and 3.7 million or so to the calf welfare scheme. That's almost 6 million of a loss in rural communities. That's a lot of money to lose. And divided amongst all the farmers and its communities then, shopkeepers, hardware suppliers, beef meal suppliers and all that, they are all going to take a hit with this. And I'm wondering where has the money gone? But I did get a land the other night inside the Agricultural Committee when two people from the department came in and the discussion was about anaerobic digesters. And these are commercial things that are actually placed inside the towns. And it came out of one of them that there would be grants of up to 5 million for an individual person who built one of these anaerobic digesters. And what this is about, Minister, is to satisfy the Paris target, the 2030 Paris agreements where Ireland would be supplying its own natural gas and that this is part of this. Think of that. 5 million to one person and the whole country loses 5 million. That's just to one person. So I'm only wondering, is it somewhere like that the money is gone all of a sudden? Thank you. Thank you, Cahirlach. And I welcome the deputy's question and the opportunity to set out the significant funding that the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine has and continues to deliver in terms of payment schemes for beef and sheep sectors. Payment schemes for the beef and sheep sector can be divided into two types. Firstly, there are national schemes of which, in 2025, there are two supporting the beef and sheep sectors, namely the National Beef Welfare Scheme and the National Sheep Welfare Scheme. And in addition to the national schemes, there are EU schemes supported through Ireland's CAP Strategic Plan. In 2025, there are two such schemes, namely the Supplier Carbon Efficiency Programme and the Sheep Improvement Scheme. And returning to the national schemes, the 2025 National Beef Welfare Scheme has a budget allocation of €28 million, all of which will be spent with payments commencing to cleared cases in early December 2025. The budget allocation is an €8 million increase of 40% from the equivalent in 2024. The beef welfare scheme attracted more farmers than in previous years and more calves will be paid on. This is a testament to the fact that the measures are practical and farmers can see the clear benefit of participation. However, because of the success of the scheme and the resulting oversubscription, to stay within the budget allocation of €28 million and to ensure that all calves, up to a maximum of 45 calves, are included, a linear adjustment is being applied to the voluntary measures of vaccination, forage analysis and faecal egg count. No adjustment will be applied to the mandatory measure of meal feeding. What this means in practical terms is that the payment rate for a farmer who has applied for all three actions will be €67 per calf on up to 45 calves. In 2024, the payment was €50 per calf, with the maximum number of calves payable being 40 calves. Therefore, the maximum payment in 2025 will be €3,015, a significant increase from the maximum payment of €2,000 in 2024. Take, for example, a farmer with 25 calves. In 2024, they would have received €1,250. In 2025, the same farmer will receive €1,675, so that is 34% higher than in 2024. In terms of the National Sheep Welfare Scheme, this has also proved popular beyond projections. The budget allocation in 2025 is €22 million, all of which will be spent and is a significant increase from the €15 million in 2024. To deal with the oversubscription under the 2025 scheme, the control mechanism is to pay for the voluntary action at €3,50, with no adjustment to the payment rate for mandatory actions. In practical terms, this means that a farmer who applied for a voluntary action will receive €11,50 per year, a significant increase from the €8 per year payable under the equivalent 2024 National Sheep Welfare Scheme. For example, a farmer with a 100-year-old flock doing all measures will receive a payment 44% higher than in 2024. That is €1,150 compared to €800. The total allocation under these two National Schemes is €50 million, and the Department will be spending the €50 million on these vital supports for farmers in the coming months. The first of the payments, €16.44 million, under the 2025 National Sheep Welfare Scheme payments, was delivered on Monday last to over 13,000 farmers. In addition, in the coming weeks, payments will commence under the CSP schemes, namely SCEP and SIS. Thank you. Thank you, Minister, for your reply, and I know it's late at night. Thanks very much. But I'm looking at my documents here, and I'm listening to you, reading your documents there, and I make out we're in two different models altogether. And we're talking about two different things because the sheep farmers were expecting €13, they'll get €11,50. The beef cow farmers were expecting €75, and they're getting €67. So, you have a different story altogether, and we're talking about different times and different things, but the facts of the matter are that these schemes are cut by almost €6 million. Where the €6 million is gone, I don't know, but it's clear to me, sheep farmers are foolish. Look, I'm reading these lines here, and the ICA are saying payment rates for 2025 are being cut from €75 a calf to €67 a calf. So, one of the two of us is right, and one of the two of us is wrong, but I can't believe that so many farmers would be wrong in highlighting this to me. So, there's some discrepancy, and, you see, you might be going back further to when they were only getting €8, but they did get €13 last year, and we were hoping that it would increase this year. And instead of that, when the budget came, we were told that we were to be glad that it didn't reduce at all, and that it didn't go up either. Well, we were disappointed, but we're more disappointed now. And I went back and told the farmers in Kerry that there was no court to the scheme, and they're telling me now that there is, and it's in Agri-Land, and it's in every paper in Kerry, and that's why I'm here raising this issue. And, again, I have to say to you, Minister, and we have to say to this government, and I'll be saying it every day, we have to be very careful of young farmers now because they're seeing this thing of work-life balance, and they see their friends down the town in Killarney or in Khmer or whatever for the weekend. They can go where they like. But if we're a farmer, son or daughter, you must traverse the hills and the glins and the valleys to mine the sheep and to see after them and to feed them, or else you won't produce lambs or you won't produce calves. And I'm asking now, at this stage, farmers, it is not easy to fool anyone, but don't try to fool the farmers because this is what has happened here, and I'm in the middle of it. I went home with a message that the payments weren't going to be cut, and now I'm told they are cut. You were reading some different stories from the year before or whatever, and I'm not blaming you one bit in the world. I know you'll take my story to the senior ministers or whatever, but this is a serious issue, and the farmers will have to be seen after. Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Deputy. And I will raise that specific issue that you've raised there with the Minister, and the information that I have here is that in relation to the two schemes, the sheep and the beef sectors, that the Minister secured a further 50 million for those two national schemes in Budget 2026, and the Department has met with the farming organisations regarding those schemes. But, Deputy, I will go back to the Minister to come back to you directly to clarify the issue. Is that okay? Thank you. Thank you.