ICMSA: Budget 2026 'disappointing' for farmers and agri-sector
Budget 2026 has been described as a "disppointing non-event" for farmers and the agriculture sector by the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers' Association (ICMSA).
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers today (Tuesday, October 7) presented their financial roadmap for 2026 in Dáil Éireann.
ICMSA president Denis Drennan welcomed the extension of "very important existing tax reliefs" on slurry storage, stamp duty and Capital Gains Tax (CGT) reliefs.
However, he pointed out that there were "no new initiatives" in the budget, adding that "the government had to begin addressing the looming crisis around succession and generational renewal".
Budget 2026
The ICMSA President noted the retention of dairy beef initiatives and the additional funding for the bovine tuberculosis (TB) Action Plan which he said "must work while being fair to farmers".
However, Drennan said that the overwhelming feeling of farmers would be disappointment.
“Every reputable survey shows that the single biggest obstacle to getting young people interested in farming is income volatility.
"If we want to get the next generation farming then we are going to have to deal with that and what’s so frustrating for certainly ICMSA is that we have already put forward the means of dealing with that problem," he said.
Income volatility
The ICMSA president noted that the Programme for Government contained a commitment to deal with "this unmanageable volatility in farm incomes".
Drennan claimed that the government "seemed quite content to wait for the crisis in attracting the next generation of farmers to become a blaring klaxon and flashing red light".
“The government has to address income volatility in a structured manner, and they have to begin making farming more attractive to the next generation - Budget 2026 didn’t even try.
“ICMSA has repeatedly put forward workable and supervised solution that would address this obvious problem and give both current farmers and the next generation the degree of predictability that they want.
"We put forward the solution again and hoped – on the basis of the commitment given in last year’s budget – that we’d see action this year.
"That commitment has not been delivered in Budget 2026 and on this basis farmers and everyone concerned with just preserving our invaluable farming sector will adjudge Budget 2026 a disappointing non-event," Drennan said.
