Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald TD has claimed that Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon sounded “very confused” when he spoke on Tuesday about the ongoing round of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform and that this puts Ireland's hopes of a decent CAP deal at risk.
The opposition leader also said that farmers attending the 2026 National Ploughing Championships were similarly questioning Minister Heydon’s understanding of the current shake-up of farm payments.
“Actually, I was listening to [Minister] Martin Heydon this morning and I thought he sounded very confused and very frankly confusing,” McDonald told media at Ploughing 2026 on Tuesday.
“I was left unclear as to how he proposes to make the case for Ireland.
“We're all aware that when you occupy the presidency, of course, you have to broker the deal. You have to make sure that a deal is reached.
“But, at the same time, that cannot be at the expense of Ireland and [Minister] Martin Heydon needs to make very sure that he is not simply a referee.
“He has to come on, put on the green shirt and actually play his part for Ireland.”
The Sinn Féin leader doubled down on her comments around a perceived confusion in Minister Heydon’s approach in a follow-up answer to a question posed by the Irish Farmers Journal on the party’s position on CAP.
“My response to the Minister this morning was that I thought it sounded very confused and not very reassuring and, actually, I heard that echoed talking to farmers here today,” Deputy McDonald commented.
“I think the challenge now and I think what farmers are asking is holding the presidency [of the Council of the European Union] now actually a help or a hindrance in respect of getting this right for Ireland?”
Target drystock and veg sectors
Sinn Féin’s agriculture spokesperson Deputy Martin Kenny said that while the farm sector’s central concern at the stage of negotiations remains around the size of the budget ringfenced for farm incomes, that the drystock and horticulture sectors are where his party would look to target payments to as Brussels has called for funds to be aimed at the “farmers most in need”.
“We need to be looking at the farmers, of course, that need the money and that is across all sectors,” he told the Irish Farmers Journal.
“But, primarily, the sectors that have struggled most, particularly the sheep sector, particularly the suckler sector, the beef sector as well.
“Horticulture is a big issue and that whole horticulture sector is on its knees and we have a situation in Ireland where we're importing 80% of our fruit and vegetables.
“That needs to be turned around and CAP can have a key role in doing that as well.”
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