A new Agriculture Minister will be appointed next week, the Taoiseach has confirmed to the Irish Farmers Association (IFA).
The news follows a meeting yesterday evening between Micheál Martin and IFA president Tim Cullinan.
Mr Martin is currently the acting Minister for Agriculture, following the resignation of Dara Calleary after his attendance at the controversial Oireachtas Golf Society dinner in Co Galway which saw the breaching of Covid-19 regulations.
Mr Cullinan said the recent resignations in the agriculture ministry have caused disruption: “At this stage we’ve lost two Ministers for Agriculture and this is very, very concerning for Irish farmers because you know, we work on a weekly basis with the Minister of the day.
“I suppose the important thing to come out of this is the Dáil will be reconvened next week and there will be a nomination for a new Minister for Agriculture.”
The first Minister for Agriculture within the current Government, Barry Cowen, was removed from the position by the Taoiseach in July after just a short stint in the role.
His sacking was due to controversy over a previous drink-driving conviction, with the former minister having been banned from driving for three months in 2016 after being found over the legal alcohol limit.
Third minister
Following Mr Calleary's recent resignation from the role, it had initially appeared there would be a wait of several weeks before a third minister was appointed.
However, with the Dáil now resuming next week rather than the originally set date of mid-September, assurances have been made to the IFA that the appointment will be made once the it returns.
In his meeting with the Taoiseach, Mr Cullinan said issues like CAP, Brexit and October's budget were also discussed, while the importance of the EU Commission's trade portfolio to Ireland was also emphasised by the IFA.
“We’re coming to the time of the year where cattle are coming off the land, there’s issues with Covid inside in meat plants, so obviously we need an active Minister,” he said.
“We have a Brexit looming in the back end of the year as well, so we need all the armoury that we can have.”
