Relevant Matter
Matters involving public funds
Public Policy Area
Finance
Period
1 May, 2025 to 31 Aug, 2025
Specific Details
Measures to Support Farm Enterprises - Suckler Cow & Beef
Intended results
Suckler Cow Supports
To propose that direct supports for suckler farmers must be increased to a minimum of €300 per cow to provide economic viability, long-term sustainability, and generational renewal within the sector, thereby maintaining its positive contribution to our climate target ambitions and driving the socio-economic, environmental, and biodiversity sustainability of rural Ireland.
To propose that the current National Exchequer scheme, which provides €75/ cow for up to 45 cows, must be extended to 2026 with funding increased to deliver €300/cow in combination with SCEP. The scheme must be available for all suckler cows on the farm, and eligibility criteria must ensure there is no leakage of this funding from suckler farms.
Beef Calf from Dairy Herds Rearing Scheme
To propose that there must be a Dairy Beef Calf Welfare Scheme that provides meaningful incentives for farmers to rear calves from the dairy herd. The scheme must reflect the costs, labour and standards required to maximise the performance and viability of this livestock production system.
Farmers who follow best practices in this area and who focus on rearing high commercial beef value (CBV) calves should be supported with a payment of €100 per calf for the rearing phase of these animals.
Beef Sustainability Scheme
To highlight that farmers feeding animals for the second year of beef production will play a pivotal role in achieving the sector's climate target ambition. The sector is a low-income, vulnerable sector that has had a significant reduction in CAP direct payments. Capacity and resources are not available on these farms to implement the necessary changes to achieve the sector's climate ambition.
To propose that farmers rearing and finishing weanling and store cattle born in suckler and dairy herds must be directly supported for this phase of the process with a minimum of €100/animal to support measures that maximise the performance of these animals. Young Bull finishers have the potential to positively impact the average age of slaughter of all prime cattle. They must be supported in addition to the €100 payment, which reflects the high cost of this specialist production system.
Straw Incorporation Scheme - for Farmers utilising native straw for bedding
To highlight that farmers who utilise straw for the bedding of cattle and sheep are providing optimum animal welfare conditions in the management of their animals over the winter months at, in the majority of cases, an extremely high cost. The majority of farmers utilising this are small-scale farm enterprises situated far from the area where tillage crops are grown in the country and where straw is most abundant. Transport costs for these farmers regularly exceed the actual cost of the straw.
To propose that, to support these farm enterprises and support optimum animal management practices on these farms, farmers using straw for animal bedding should be directly supported for this action, also recognising the environmental benefits of this practice.
To highlight that the benefits of incorporating straw into soils are recognised in the CAP Strategic Plans, and tillage farmers are rightly supported for this action.
To propose that the level of supports provided to tillage farmers in the SIM scheme should be incorporated into a separate national scheme with new funding for livestock and sheep farmers who utilise straw for bedding their animals and then integrate it back into the soil on their farms.
Name of person primarily responsible for lobbying on this activity
Francie Gorman IFA President, Declan Hanrahan IFA Livestock Chair, Tomas Bourke IFA Senior Policy Executive, James Walsh IFA Policy Executive
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
Mass communications
Letter All TDs
Submission All TDs
Letter All Senators
Submission All Senators
Lobbying activity
The following activities occurred for this specific Subject Matter Area.
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.
Brian Brennan
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)
Brian Purcell
Special Adviser (Department of Agriculture and the Marine)
Christopher O'Sullivan
Minister of State (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage)
Emer Higgins
Minister of State (Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform)
Helen McEntee
Minister (Department of Education)
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
Minister (Department of Health)
Malcolm Byrne
TD (Dáil Éireann, the Oireachtas)
Martin Heydon
Minister (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Michael Healy-Rae
Minister of State (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Michael Moynihan
Minister of State (Department of Education)
Noel Grealish
Minister of State (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine)
Paschal Donohoe
Minister (Department of Finance)
Peter Burke
Minister (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment)
Sean Canney
Minister of State (Department of Transport)
James Browne
Minister (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage)