Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon is currently examining how he will find cost savings in the region of €26m in Budget 2027 in order to help fund the Department of Education.
His cabinet colleague Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers has stated that in April, Government agreed that additional funding of €646m will be provided to the Department of Education and Youth in 2026.
To accommodate this reprioritisation and deliver on the 2027 ceiling agreed under the Medium Term Fiscal Structural Plan (MTFP), which was agreed prior to Christmas, he said that other Departments have been asked to “deliver a levy focusing on efficiencies and reforms which will total €446m from 2027”.
“This should be considered through the lens of an overall uplift of €7bn for expenditure in 2027. It will not impact the 2026 allocations,” he said in response to a parliamentary question from Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan.
“The proposed levy on this Department is €26m,” a Department of Agriculture spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“The specific implications of the levy are being examined by Minister Heydon and he will engage with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation as part of his negotiation for Budget 2027.”
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon told the Irish Farmers Journal that he will be going into the next budget negotiations with high ambition to deliver another increased budget for his sector in 2027.
"Last year I negotiated a 9% increase securing support for our tillage and livestock sectors as well as securing increased funding for my TB action plan and TAMS for example. I will have my renewed budget priorities again and I expect to deliver an increased budget allocation for our agri-food industry in 2027".
Scale of efficiencies
Minister Chambers said that the scale of the efficiencies to be found ranges from 0.02% to 1.4% on the 2026 current expenditure funding across all other departments.
“It is a matter for each Department to determine how the levy will be applied across the vote group and identify the efficiencies and reforms required to ensure this. My own Department will also be undertaking this process in accordance with the requirements,” he said.
The Department of Agriculture has been tasked with a 1.3% levy, equating to around €26m.
The Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht is to cut spending by 1.3%, the Department of Foreign Affairs by 1.4% and Department of Finance by 1.4%.
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