Brian Stanley: Push for Four Flour Mills and Local Food Security
Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food and Marine for details on the initiative to increase domestic milling flour production and the acreage of wheat needed. He welcomed the Enterprise Ireland scheme approved in January 2026 that provides a €15 million capital budget to support large-scale flour mills and called for local sites to be prioritised.
What was asked: Brian Stanley pressed Ministers on the Government's plans to grow Ireland's milling capacity and the role that expanded milling wheat acreage could play in supporting tillage farmers, jobs and food security. He emphasised the need for value-added processing to reduce reliance on world commodity markets.
Scheme details: Stanley welcomed approval by the Minister for Enterprise for a new Enterprise Ireland scheme, approved in January 2026, that makes €15 million available to support the establishment of large-scale flour mills. The scheme envisages support for up to three projects and aims to create domestic processing capacity for milling wheat and oilseeds.
Local pitch and implications: The Deputy urged Ministers to consider Laois as a priority location, citing over 70 acres of unused industrial land adjacent to major roads and a railway line. He argued that building processing capacity would create jobs, strengthen food security and give tillage farmers a value-added market for milling wheat.
Context and consequences: Stanley highlighted the risks of heavy import dependence - noting that 80% of our flour currently comes from Britain - and flagged recent years of poor weather and rising input costs for tillage farmers. He framed the development of domestic milling as an economic, environmental and employment opportunity that requires industry collaboration and government support.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Mr. Comhairle, I'm glad the three Ministers are here to take the question. So I want to ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food and Marine to provide details of the initiative to increase the amount of milling flour produced in the state and the necessary increase in acreage of wheat to be grown for land, to make a statement on it. And I say that in a positive way. I hope the three Ministers know that we can have some good news on this, Minister. I know how important milling is to Leish and beyond, as is the tillage sector, Deputy Stanley. So the tillage sector is an integral part of Irish farming, producing high quality animal feed and bedding for the livestock sector and ingredients for the food and drink industry. The sector makes a significant contribution, as you know, to the Irish economy, estimated at 1.9 billion Euros worth per annum over the 2018-2022 period. It is also important in terms of employment and is estimated to support over 11,000 full-time equivalent jobs. This Government is committed to growing the area under tillage in line with Climate Action Plan targets. The Food Vision Tillage Group report sets out a roadmap for the sector's growth and development, identifying key opportunities to sustainably grow the sector. Adding value to the tillage crop output will be crucial to its long-term sustainability and competitiveness. The Programme for Government commits to examining facilities for the processing of Irish crops and to exploring opportunities for oilseed and milling wheat processing. Additionally, a key recommendation in the Food Vision Tillage report is to explore the opportunities for milling wheat in Ireland. While there are opportunities to grow milling wheat in Ireland, there are also recognised agronomic and market challenges. However, with collaboration from industry and support from the marketplace, domestic production of milling wheat can play a role in providing a new value-added opportunity in the supply chain for Irish tillage farmers. In line with these commitments, my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Peter Bourke, has approved the development and implementation of a new scheme to be administered by Enterprise Ireland to support the establishment of flour milling projects in Ireland. Approval for the scheme was granted in January 2026. I was delighted to be able to launch it with him. It will provide a capital investment support for the establishment of large-scale flour mills. A total grant budget of €15 million will be made available and it is envisaged that up to three projects could be supported. In turn, growing that capacity on the processing side will be a real incentive for tillage farmers to look back at milling wheat as a greater value-added opportunity as well. I want to welcome the news of the plan to develop four flour mills. There is huge financial potential here and gain for producers and jobs and employment. 80% of our flour is coming from Britain, as you know. During the crisis with the freeze, we almost ran out of flour and bread. The total cereal production in the state, while it was up last year by 10%, was mainly due to good weather at the start and end of the season as opposed to the year before. There are huge risks there. We understand that. In terms of costs, with the cost of fertilizer and fuel increasing, we are very vulnerable in terms of our food security. We are only three days away from a crisis at any time. This is a real opportunity for farmers, a real opportunity for jobs. There are environmental benefits, economic benefits for farmers and for jobs and for food security. Leish has very good wheat-growing territory. I know South Kildare has as well. Leish has wheat plains as well. I strongly ask you to consider Leish's location. There are over 70 acres there of unused land for industry, unused by the ADA. I am asking you to make this a priority, right on the edge of Port Leish, on the crossroads of Ireland, N78 and 80. You cannot get a better location, and on the railway line. Thank you. I thought everybody was going to break into a bar of Trudy Lawlor's lovely Leish for a minute. I am well aware that some of the best tillage land in the country is in Leish, absolutely, because it is right beside Kildare, which we have it too. At its heart, and you have many constituents as I have who are dependent and who are tillage farmers and who are very worried about the future, and have had three really tough years, a mixture of bad weather, income challenges and pressures and high input costs and low marginal prices. At its heart has been the fact that our tillage sector is largely reliant on world market prices. Unlike the value-added piece that we have managed to introduce on beef and on our dairy products, we are in that space in tillage, and I am determined to get there. Obviously, I have my €50 million support through Strong Corporation, Protein Aid and the €13 million tillage sustainability scheme, which I recently launched. On top of that, it is about the value-added piece. It is about developing a quality assurance scheme for our tillage sector that delivers better value back there, but it is this value-added piece that is here. In terms of the money and whether Leish is in the mix, it is up to individual companies to put themselves forward for that now, but Government has made that money available for them. We have a strong tradition of milling flour in Leish, and Odlums in Port Arrington is one of the few places in the country now doing it. That is there and there is potential for it to be developed in the county. There was a report out this morning, an economic report, and it was drawn up by the Alan Ahern, former advisor to the US Federal Reserve, and a former advisor to me, Al Martin, as you understand it. He says that foreign firms are producing six times more than Irish firms in this state, and they produce three quarters of all exports. He is saying there are huge risks to the Irish economy. It is great to have foreign firms. There is an argument against that. I don't want to be taken as that. What I am saying here is that it is very lopsided. Our economic development has been lopsided for years, and there are huge macroeconomic risks there because of that in terms of corporation tax and other risks. As I said to you, there is the environmental, there is the economic, there is the jobs, food security, all those benefits. I would say to you, Leish and Kildare and Carlow lost the sugar beet. We shouldn't have lost it, and don't give up on it altogether. The flour, and I welcome what you are doing, but I ask you strongly to consider location in Leish with that. We have 70 acres there for it. I completely concur. We should have never lost the sugar beet industry. It was a detrimental blow to us in South Kildare, Leish and beyond, who made very good money out of the campaign every year in delivering it into Carlow, as they did in Toom and Turlas and Mallow as well. I take the points on board. It is why government absolutely has invested and supported Irish agriculture to the extent it has, with record amounts of funding to meet the last CAP plan. The Irish government was not found wanting in supporting our agriculture sector and matching the European money that came in there. We will continue to do that. It is also about driving more value back into our sector and providing that value added piece that means that our tillage price isn't just dealing on commodity markets. Being able to premiumise that, as we have seen in the beef and dairy side, if we can add that premiumisation and increase the value in the product by the story we tell, and the tillage farmers work around the area, AgNab is a really good example of that, that can lead to really positive impacts in the future, as will disinvestment. .
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
