“No other sector has been as vilified for problems not of their creation,” said Tánaiste Simon Harris to the Fine Gael national agricultural, food and rural development forum on Saturday morning.

“Farmers are part of the solution not the problem,” he added.

It was a theme he majored on during the general election campaign this time last year.

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“We’re working hard and we’re trying to work smart on nitrates, Mercosur and CAP. These are Irish issues, they affect Irish families and the Irish economy.

"Farming is not some sort of tradition or something that we talk about in a warm and fuzzy way. It’s a modern, viable sustainable career.”

Earlier, during a short press conference, I asked both the Fine Gael leader and Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon why the election campaign pledges they made - such as €300/suckler cow, €30/ewe and a €60m annual scheme for tillage farmers - have not yet been delivered on.

The Tánaiste highlighted how the Programme for Government is the working document of the government, not the election manifestos.

Argument

That argument would hold more water if Fine Gael had not been returning to Government with its previous coalition partners in Fianna Fáil, particularly as Micheál Martin and Charlie McConalogue had outbid Fine Gael on all bar the tillage commitment.

Simon Harris pointed to the commitments that had been delivered on.

“We have provided certainty over the various tax reliefs for the lifetime of this Government or the maximum period of time that we were enabled to do.”

He also referred to the cabinet committee on water quality.

Martin Heydon re-emphasised that committee, which is chaired by the Taoiseach and attended by the Tánaiste.

“We had Uisce Éireann there, the EPA there, as well as me from the agricultural side. But it wasn’t just about what our farmers are doing around water quality, it was everybody. Because this is a green jersey issue, retaining the nitrates derogation.

"The commissioner [environment commissioner Jessika Roswall] was struck by the fact that we’re bringing different State departments and different State agencies together.”

Highlight

Martin Heydon also highlighted the money he had gained in his first budget as agriculture minister, including €131m for livestock schemes, up from 2025’s €113m - and the €50m funding for the tillage sector.

He then focused on the huge cost of TB control on his Departmental budget.

“You have to weigh up priorities and you have to balance them as best you can.

"From my perspective, the spiralling cost of bovine TB was something that required a new plan and a new approach and I was able to get the additional resources I need to tackle this issue once and for all.

"The new bovine TB plan has five pillars with 30 actions. At €157m for 2026, that is a serious draw on resources. I can think of so many ways to better spend that money, but we have to bring reactor numbers under control.”