Minister: 'I have a huge amount of demands' for Budget 2026
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has indicated that the budget for his department will have to be increased in Budget 2026 to meet his priorities.
Speaking to journalists at a farmer meeting in Co. Clare today (Friday, September 12), Minister Heydon said that he has a "huge amount" of areas that require funding ahead of the national budget in early October.
When asked what budget allocation he wanted to see for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Minister Heydon said: "More than last year is the simple answer, and you can see clearly what the allocation of my [department's] vote was last year. I have a huge amount of demands."
He added: "This evening I'll be at a meeting in Kildare with hundreds of tillage farmers who are going to tell me how challenging the tillage space is and I accept that".
"Obviously ACRES (Agri Climate Rural Environment Scheme) is an area that I've been underprovided for in my budget and I have to be able to find the resources to pay everyone in that.
"I'm determined to restore confidence in ACRES having had the challenges there when I came in first in terms of farmers being unpaid," the minister said.
"We've cracked that nut, and now I want to restore farmer confidence in it," he added.
He also said that TB will be an element of budget negotiations.
"In terms of the budget ultimately, obviously I have to outline my priorities to the Department of Public Expenditure and make a case for the money I’m looking for," Minister Heydon added.
"I’m not going to get into details about that in public, but what I’m trying to do is get as big a cake as possible, and then I have to decide how to divide up those slices afterwards in line with my priorities.
"Ultimately here what I’m working at is trying to get as big a budget as possible so then I can use that to best support farmers in the different sectors," the minister said.
The minister was speaking at an event in Ennis, Co. Clare, this morning on the future of farming in the county.
The meeting today was organised by Clare Fine Gael TD Joe Cooney, in partnership with with local farm organisation branches.
Speaking during a panel discussion at the event, Minister Heydon warned that legal challenges will be almost a certainty against Ireland's future Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) - and the nitrates derogation, if we retain it.
The minister told the meeting that, for that reason, any changes the government makes to the next NAP will have to be "legally robust".
"Whatever we do on nitrates will be legally challenged, we know that. There are legal challenges already with our current Nitrates Action Programme," he said.
