'We are importing €80m worth of apples that we could grow here'

Minister of State Pippa Hackett announced the 2024 scheme of investment aid the previous day at a meeting of the Horticulture Industry Forum. The scheme, which will close for applications on December 15, is intended to grant aid capital investments in specialised plant and equipment including renewable energy.

Minister Hackett said this year had been particularly challenging for growers with incomes hit by high input costs and difficult weather conditions.

This made it hard for them to re-invest and grow their enterprise in line with the vision set out in the National Strategy for Horticulture. While there are challenges currently facing industry, the Minister said the focus must be on embracing opportunities.

Senator Eugene Murphy, welcoming the funding, said the sector has been falling behind colossally in some situations.

Energy costs are a huge issue in the production of commercial horticultural products and therefore this €10m scheme is very important.

“We have the best climate in the world for growing apples, but we are importing €80m worth of apples,” he said.

Senator Murphy said it is nearly impossible to get an Irish tomato, which he believed are the nicest in the world.

North County Dublin was famous for them. However, the cost of running glasshouses is now extremely difficult for people who used to grow them.

“For years Bord na Móna ran trials on growing blueberries, which grow perfectly in Irish bogs. Yet, we spent more than €30m to import them last year.

“If you look at the labels in the supermarket this afternoon, you will see that they are from Peru, Brazil and all parts of South America.

“We are importing them here, but we can grow them perfectly,” he said, adding that it would make perfect sense to pay people increased subsidies to produce those crops here at home.

Senator Victor Boyhan also welcomed the fund and the heavy emphasis placed on organics, but he said there are two anomalies.

“What are commonly called white mushrooms, which people usually buy, are excluded from the scheme.

“People are asking why the Government is singling out mushrooms and excluding them from the horticultural crisis fund.

“I will tell the House why. It is because they are linked to peat, which is the subject of controversy,” he said, stressing that mushrooms should not be penalised.

“Irish mushrooms are a fantastic crop. Indeed, three or four aeroplanes leave Dublin Airport every week to fly mushrooms into London and Paris.

“Those mushrooms are also on our shelves. Is that not a great thing to be able to say about horticulture, including Irish mushrooms? Let us support them.

“Strawberries are also excluded. Growing them in season is easy, but if you want early or late strawberries, you will use cloches, polytunnels or glasshouses.

“You need to heat them and, more importantly, you also need to ventilate them, both of which require energy,” he said, adding that it is wrong to exclude strawberries and white mushrooms from the scheme.

Senator Regina Doherty, Deputy Leader of the House, also welcomed the funding of €10m for the horticultural industry.

But she said the conditions being applied to it are outrageous, with respect to Senator Hackett as a Green Party Minister of State, who wants to encourage and incentivise people towards organics.

While that is a good thing, it should not exclude the few remaining growers we have. She had raised this matter with her party leader weeks ago.

“We used to have 400 growers in this country. Today, we have 60. I am not just referring to strawberry, mushroom, or cucumber growers – what we call ‘horticultural growers’ – but to the entirety of our growing community.

“If this decrease does not show the serious crisis, and the disregard of people we have taken for granted for so long, I do not know what does,” she said.

Senator Doherty recalled that she had tabled an amendment to the Finance Bill 2022 to give extra money and tax rebates to growers who used glasshouses and sequestered carbon.

“I was genuinely surprised when the then Minister for Finance very kindly accepted my amendment. It was included in the Act.

“But we are still waiting on the Revenue Commissioners 12 months later to come up with a way for growers to apply for a tax rebate.

“That is 12 months during a crisis when our number of growers has decreased from 400 to 60. The State can act, yet we are not doing so,” she said, adding that she will seek a debate in the Senate.