Speech for Taoiseach Micheál Martin on the occasion of the IFA 71st Annual General Meeting 13th January 2026

Speech

Speech for Taoiseach Micheál Martin on the occasion of the IFA 71st Annual General Meeting 13th January 2026

• From: Department of the Taoiseach

• Published on: 13 January 2026
• Last updated on: 13 January 2026

Introduction

It gives me great pleasure to be with you here this evening. I want to thank Francie and Alice for the invitation and for their stewardship of the IFA during another busy year for Irish agriculture.

Alice is the first female Deputy President in the organisation's history and I think it is important to acknowledge that. She is a trailblazer in many respects and a very positive role model for the growing number of young female farmers in our country.

Ar dtus, déanaim comhghairdeas libh ar ócáid mhór seo agus sibh ag ceiliúradh seachtó haon bliain ag déanamh ionadaíochta ar thalmhaíocht na hÉireann agus ar theaghlaigh feirmeoireachta na hÉireann.

For 71 years, the IFA has provided a strong voice for farmers right across the country.

Over this time a constructive - and admittedly robust at times! - relationship has been built up between the IFA and Government.

It is through this foundation of dialogue and cooperation, as well as the resilience of the industry, that together, we can ensure a strong, sustainable and thriving agriculture sector.

A sector which delivers positive outcomes for farmers in terms of their way of life, their income, and their capacity to contribute positively to the socio-economic and environmental fabric of our country.

Sometimes I feel that there is insufficient examination and discussion of the importance of agriculture within our economy and its place in our overall economic performance.

Since becoming Taoiseach I have always maintained the very clear objective of protecting and promoting the success of Irish farming.

As many of you may have heard me talking about before, agrifood is Ireland's oldest and largest indigenous exporting sector.

It accounts for 6% of Gross National Income and almost 9% of merchandise exports in value terms.

We don't have figures yet for 2025, but agri-food exports reached a record €19 Billion in 2024, highlighting the global appeal and exceptional quality of Irish produce.

That was up 5% on 2023, so I am hopeful that we may have pushed through that €20 Billion mark over the course of the last year.

The sector employs almost 170,000 people as a main occupation, accounting for 1 in 16 jobs nationwide.

And with approximately 90% of our beef, sheep meat and dairy products destined for international markets, this is a sector that continues to thrive on, but also rely on, the world stage.

As a result of this success, we have also seen good progress in Family Farm Incomes in recent years. But we cannot take anything for granted.

CAP Post 2027

The negotiations on EU Budget for 2028-2034, which includes the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), are critically important and have now commenced.

The proposed CAP allocation represents a reduction of approximately 20% compared with the current period, which is a serious concern for Ireland.

As such our position is clear - we cannot support a weakening of the CAP budget.

Farmers are already facing increased input costs, climate obligations, and market pressures. The next CAP must therefore be adequately resourced to ensure a fair, stable income for producers and to maintain food security across Europe.

For Government our priorities remain unchanged: a CAP that is straightforward for farmers, flexible and responsive to national needs, and with a budget that matches its ambition.

As Taoiseach and as a Government we are actively engaging with the Commission, the European Parliament, and our EU counterparts to ensure that Ireland's priorities are reflected - a strong, well-funded CAP that delivers for farmers, rural communities, and the environment.

Nitrates

It is precisely because of this focus on and commitment to sustainability in farming that the Government has been working proactively to secure the continuation of our Nitrates Derogation for the next three years.

We worked very hard for and welcome the recent positive decision at EU level. In particular I am grateful to the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for making herself directly available for discussion on the issue.

The Government will continue to work towards finalising the formal elements of the derogation.

We are obviously pleased with the progress made, but we also need to be clear minded. Securing this derogation comes with additional conditionality and responsibilities, and there are undoubtedly challenges ahead.

As the only EU Member State now availing of a Nitrates Derogation, we must ensure that we can demonstrate improvements in water quality, particularly in catchments in the South and South-East and we must also demonstrate that agriculture can be successfully undertaken without adversely affecting the ecological health of our rivers, lakes and estuaries.

Minister Heydon is actively working to roll out the ecological assessment process at catchment level and, supported by Government, there is unprecedented engagement across the entire agri-food industry to drive the improvements that we require.

If we want to maintain the derogation, we need to step up our collective action to improve water quality.

For its part, the Government has been working to oversee improvements in water quality through a Cabinet Committee on Water Quality, which I chair.

We have been exploring all pressures on water quality, including impacts from agriculture and forestry, but also waste water treatment and the investment programme of Uisce Éireann.

While the derogation is welcome, we all have work to do over the coming years to protect the sector while also protecting our water bodies and their habitats.

This Government will support the sector and farm families in achieving these dual objectives.

EU-Mercosur Agreement

As of course you are all aware, the Government has also been engaged intensively at EU level to voice Ireland's concerns in relation to the EU-Mercosur Agreement.

I would like to acknowledge the constructive approach of the European Commission and the spirit in which they engaged with Member States.

In recent weeks we did secure improvements to the overall Agreement, including through the proposed regulation on safeguards. The proposed trigger for activating these safeguards, which had already been moved from 10% to 8%, has been set at a further reduced threshold of 5% of import volume increase or 5% price reduction at individual member state level over a three-year average period.

However, we continued to have significant concerns relating to the certain agricultural standards under the agreement and the impact this could have on European farm incomes.

Ultimately, we concluded that the new and additional commitments, while welcome, were not sufficient to satisfy the concerns of our farmers and our consumers, and so we took the decision to vote against the EU-Mercosur Agreement.

We will continue to advocate on this issue, and I as Taoiseach and we as a Government remain committed to supporting agriculture and ensuring the long-term financial and environmental sustainability of the sector.

China

In that context I was particularly pleased to be able to confirm yesterday the reopening of the Chinese market to Irish beef exports.

Over the course of last week, I had meetings with the senior national leadership of the country, in all of which I pressed the case for the robustness, transparency and effectiveness of Ireland's animal health, traceability and food safety systems.

It is a major step forward for the industry that Chinese officials have responded positively to that message.

Collectively, we now need to be creative and aggressive in making the most of the opportunity that this vast and increasingly prosperous market of 1.4 Billion people represents.

We are restarting from a good place, with a very impressive team of Bord Bia executives in the country.

I sat last week with a cross section of food and drink journalists, with a combined Chinese readership of 54 million, and watched as our Bord Bia executives switched seamlessly between English and Chinese as they told the story of Irish food quality and Origin Green.

Climate Action/Adaptation

In the meantime, we continue to work to meet the profound challenge that is our changing climate.

More intense rain, longer dry spells, flooding and soil stress are no longer future risks - they are today's challenges that affect yields and farm viability, and which Irish farmers are already dealing with on a daily basis.

It is very clear that, while we have made good progress in recent years, we must build on this quickly, and at scale.

At EU level, member states have now agreed an overall 2040 emissions reduction target, with all sectors expected to play their full part.

Given its share of Ireland's emissions, the Agri-food sector and farmers themselves have a hugely important part to play in steering Ireland towards a low-carbon future.

I know you know this, and the Government is committed to engaging and working with you to find solutions that will deliver for the sector and for our collective imperative to tackle climate change.

We must also recognise that climate change is not just a story of emissions - it is with equal urgency, a story of adaptation.

We can all see the impacts - rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, biodiversity loss and more extreme weather events are being felt everywhere, including in Ireland. Irish farmers, along with the rest of the population, are worried, and rightly so.

The National Adaptation Framework (NAF) sets out the national strategy to reduce the vulnerability of the country to the negative effects of climate change and to avail of positive impacts.

We must and we will invest in adaptation: in resilient infrastructure, in early-warning systems, in nature-based solutions, in resilient agriculture and industrial practices, and in protecting ourselves from rising seas, flooding, drought and storms.

Generational Renewal

As we talk about the future and as the IFA moves into its eighth decade, I believe it is critically important that the legacy that has been built up is passed on to the next generation in a clear and sustainable way.

With the average age of farmers continuing to rise, and 38% of farmers now over the age of 65, the Government is committed to supporting inter-generational farm succession.

We recognise that farm succession is a complex issue and there are many factors that impact farmers' decisions. That is why we established the National Commission on Generational Renewal in Farming.

An implementation group in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is now considering the recommendations of the Commission, for implementation across the short to medium term.

Nonetheless, it is clear that generational renewal needs to be looked at holistically, not just through the lens of CAP supports.

Much of the work we have already completed ensures we have a comprehensive, well-considered foundation for our national strategy on generational renewal proposed for the next CAP.

Shared Island

Before I conclude, I would like to acknowledge the presence this evening of Ulster Farmers Union President William Irvine.

William farms an area of County Armagh that I know reasonably well and his presence tonight is an encouraging reminder of the opportunity we have to work together across the island to tackle shared challenges.

I was pleased recently to help fund, through my Department's Shared Island Initiative, two bioeconomy demonstration projects and a pilot project on Bovine TB, agreed between Minister Martin Heydon here and Minister Andrew Muir in Stormont.

And it is an area that I feel we could be doing much more. You are very welcome William.

Conclusion

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude for the hard work carried out by farmers themselves and by your representatives in the IFA.

I can assure you of the Government's continuing commitment to supporting the agri-food sector.

Guím gach rath oraibh amach anseo agus tá súil agam go mbeidh neart blianta rathúla agaibh sna blianta amach romhainn.

Thank you and I wish you well in your deliberations this evening.