Laois TD says Santa won't come to 'bold' farmers

Laois TD Willie Aird made up for lost time in the Dáil at the end of May when he raised a series of issues with the Minister for Agriculture Martion Heydon at the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food.

The outspoken Portlaoise-based Fine Gael representative, who was elected to the Dáil for the first time in 2024, said he had a lot on his agenda after waiting so long to enter national politics.

“I have had a long number of years storing up this stuff, and now I have the opportunity to ask on behalf of farmers,” he said.

So, intent was he on getting answers that Committee proceedings had to be suspended to allow Minister Martin Heydon to give some answers to the issues raised. Dep Aird began with schemes.

“Whatever scheme is coming out, will the Minister please make it easy for us to fill up the forms? It has been detrimental and the Department has been very difficult.

“It has been cruel on me as a farmer and all my colleagues in making it so difficult. The proof is that when I started off in farming, I would have had an agricultural adviser whom I could ring for advice. Now, however, there is nothing that farmers can do on their own without having agricultural advisers and everything.

“Why does the Department make it so complicated? It is serious. It is not fair to farmers.

“Something else I do not like is the hanging of a little carrot over us - if we do this, our single farm payment will be cut.

“My mother, Lord have mercy on her, would start off in September or October, or whenever she would get away it, by saying to us, "If you are bold, Santy will not be coming". That went on the whole way until after Christmas. The Department is the very same with us. The Minister is laughing, but it is not a laughing matter. An awful lot of farmers out there take huge umbrage to that, and they are right to. I am one of them,” he said.

He also raised water quality as he said he has first-hand experience.

“I am a dairy farmer and the situation is improving hugely. The last two tests done by the EPA showed great results. We are on the up. We have spent hundreds of thousands of euro improving yards to improve water quality and all that, so the Minister has a good case to make there,” he said.

Regarding CAP, Dep Aird said there is zero tolerance. MORE BELOW PICTURE

“I do not want to put pressure on the Minister, but I had to. We want Pillar 1 and Pillar 2. The multi-annual financial framework, MFF, will not be good for the Irish farmer. It will not be good for me. If one reads into the MFF, it will not be good for Irish farmers, and the Minister knows that. I will give him all the support in that regard,” he said.

He also raised the mandatory condition of the payment of the Basic Income Support for farmers to protect wetlands and peatlands - high-carbon soil.

“On GAEC 2, we get nervous when they start telling us what to do...I welcome that the Minister said that there would be no fines under GAEC 2...we will hold him to that,” he said.

Dep Aird said farmers are 'terrified' by GAEC2 changes.

“Traditionally in farming, we all knew the land like the back of our hands. We knew what was the wet field and what day of the year we could go out. Farmers had to get used to being told when to spread dung, when to spread slurry and when we could go out. We can go out on a wet day if we like because it is within the calendar of farming. It would take a huge generational mindset to change what farmers did down through the years because it was handed down from generation to generation and they knew every spot in a field. This is why there was so much resentment at changes. People found it, and still find it, difficult,” he said.

The Portlaoise man also flagged tillage.

“On tillage, there was €32 million to be paid to tillage farmers as part of Budget 2025, which is €40 per hectare. Is that ring-fenced for the next five years? Tillage is likely to decline this year again. This is an important point for the officials here. The numbers of farmers in tillage is falling, which the Department can see.

“It was 334,450 ha. That went down and it is going to go down again, yet the Minister is saying that we are going to have an increase of 360,000 ha. Unless the Minister puts something in there very quickly, then he is not going to meet his climate targets.

READ ALSO: Aird slams draconian TB measure WATCH

“The crop diversification rules appear to be having a negative impact on tillage. This is one for the officials that came up with this. Many farmers are reducing their crop areas. We can see that every day. They will not have to comply with these rules, though, as it now appears the rules are not required in Ireland and, therefore, there should be leniency for sectors that are in trouble. Will the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine try to remove that rule from the CAP2” he said.

As his speaking team was concluding, Dep Aird raised the issue of TB action.

“TB is the most pressing thing in the mind of every one of my farming colleagues at the moment. Every farmer out there is terrified of a TB test. I went years and years and we never had that at home. One would be afraid of it, but it was more the nuisance of having to get the cattle to have a bath and all of that.

“People talk about the mental strain on farmers, but this is it. I am telling the Minister that this is it. There was never, ever such an outbreak of TB.

“I say this to the officials. It has all gone wrong. It is like a runaway train. There is the mental strain for farmers of having 60 cows go down and not being allowed an independent blood test. The Minister will have to roll out something. He is going to have to help farmers and he is going to have to put their minds at ease,” said the TD.

The former Laois County Councillor also challenged the Minister on the compensation being paid to farmers on cattle that test positive for TB. He insisted that there is a shortfall in the order of hundreds of euro between the value of an animal and the compensation.

The meeting was suspended after the Committee chairperson Aindrias Moynihan told Dep Aird that he was not giving Minister Heydon an opportunity to respond to the issues raised.

When the meeting was reconvened, the Minister attempted to respond to some of the points raised by Dep Aird and other politicians.

“Regarding the points made about the CAP and how we support farmers, simplification is very important. I, too, was a child who was threatened, around October time, with Santa not coming, but he always came in December.

“We are delivering €2 billion of support to farmers every year and that is not simple. This money comes with conditionality. It is money that needs to be audited. We need to be able to account for it being spent as it is supposed to be spent and the type of deals we sign up to,” he said.

He also responded to TB issues. He said farmers are compensated at the value of the animal on its reactor date and there is a maximum.

“In response to the points the Cathaoirleach and Deputy Aird made about compensation, my abiding determination is to make sure fewer farmers are in this position and that those farmers have a way out of the mess they are in. We could spend all day talking about compensation and individual measures. The points the members made are valid, but they will not resolve the problem. I am determined that we fix this problem once and for all,” he said.

He outlined the TB scenario.

“We are at 6.3% of herd incidence in the country. The last time we were at that level was in 2003. In that year, there were 28,000 reactors. We are now at the same level of herd incidence but there were almost 42,000 reactors last year. If we do not intervene, that figure could rise to 63,000 by the end of the year. Something has changed significantly in respect of the spread of the disease and the number of reactors,” he said.

The meeting took place on May 25.