Taoiseach Simon Harris has told the Dáil that he is “concerned” about figures contained in an Agriland report which show Irish cow numbers on September 1, 2024 were more than 78,000 head below the same date of 2023.
The Roscommon-Galway TD, Michael Fitzmaurice, had referenced the Agriland report during a Dáil debate yesterday (Tuesday, October 23).
Deputy Fitzmaurice: “The number of cattle in the country has reduced by 4% to 6% in the past year, the suckler herd has gone down again and the number of sheep has also reduced by a large amount.
“Will the government do something about that?”
Taoiseach
In response the Taoiseach said that in relation to the Agriland report he was “concerned”.
“I believe it is entirely possible to continue to produce good, high-quality food in this country and save our planet, which is on fire.
“When one is elected to government, one has to do more than one thing at a time.
“One does not have to set up straw man arguments that it is a choice of being on the side of the farmer or the side of the plant; one has to support both,” he added.
The Taoiseach also criticised what he described as “scare tactics that are applied in relation to farmers and agriculture”.
“It is going on for far too long,” he told the Dáil.
“Farmers have mental health, well-being and a livelihood. They have a family. They have a mortgage to pay, like everybody else in this country.
“People in this House speak about farmers in a way they would not speak about any other sector of the Irish economy. It has to stop. They do it for reasons of populism rather than reasons of science,” the Taoiseach stated.
However he also stressed in the Dáil that “climate change is real and climate action is needed”.
The Taoiseach warned: “Farmers need to change. They know it and they do not need a lecture from people who have never been on a farm in respect of how to make progress.”
Nitrates derogation
Simon Harris also urged TDs yesterday in the Dáil that “we must be ready to pull together as a country” to retain the nitrates derogation.
He said it is the biggest issue farmers are currently raising with the government and warned that people must be ready to “don that Team Ireland jersey, the green jersey, to make sure we can retain the nitrates derogation next year”.