Relevant Matter
Matters involving public funds
Public Policy Area
Agriculture
Period
1 May, 2023 to 31 Aug, 2023
Specific Details
Crisis in the Horticultural Sector
Intended results
To emphasise how, while the Horticultural Exceptional Payment Scheme (HEPS) did alleviate some of the pressures on the sector last year, the pressures are still there and the Horticultural Exceptional Payment Scheme (HEPS) needs to be put in place for 2023.
To highlight the huge concern around the outlook for the sector and the huge costs of input materials and energy.
To highlight the need to include all horticulture sectors in any scheme, and changes to the criteria of the schemes are required, especially the basis on which field vegetable growers are eligible.
To recommend that a recovery plan be put in place to sustain and build on grower numbers once more.
To highlight that, with food security currently so much to the fore, interventions are urgently required to combat the high input cost and longstanding issues in the horticultural sector.
To highlight issues with work permits, a bespoke seasonal work permit scheme must be introduced without delay. The fact that the UK and many other European countries have work programmes in place puts Irish growers at a competitive disadvantage.
To emphasise the longstanding issue of peat availability for the domestic horticulture sector. The only measure that will resolve this is to introduce primary legislation to allow for the extraction of domestic peat for the Irish market.
To challenge the penal nature of the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) by calling for the immediate introduction of an exemption for active farmers. What is in place is a land grab exercise and will force the sale of intergenerational held and farmed land.
Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity
Tim Cullinan IFA President, Niall McCormack IFA Fruit & Vegetable Committee Chair, Niamh Brennan IFA Policy Executive, Sean Ryan IFA Potato Chair
Did any Designated Public Official(DPO) or former Designated Public Official(DPO) carry out lobbying activities on your behalf in relation to this return? You must include yourself, and answer Yes, if you are a current DPO or a DPO at any time in the past. (What is a Designated Public Official?)
No
Did you manage or direct a grassroots campaign?
No
Was this lobbying done on behalf of a client?
No
Lobbying activity
The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.
Informal communication (2-5)
Designated public officials lobbied
The following DPOs were lobbied during this return period on this specific Subject Matter Area. These DPOs were involved in at least one of the Lobbying Activities listed above, but not necessarily all of them.
As returns are specific to a Subject Matter Area the above Lobbying Activities may be associated with multiple returns.
Pippa Hackett
Minister of State (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Regina Doherty
Senator (Seanad)
Tim Lombard
Senator (Seanad)
Louise O'Reilly
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)
Fergus O'Dowd
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)