Aontú TD for Mayo Paul Lawless has called on the government to subsidise the cost of farm fertiliser. It comes as figures released to him by the Minister for Agriculture reveal an inflation rate of 120% following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Speaking today Deputy Lawless said: “We know that fertiliser costs have increased by about 60% in recent weeks. The government here is predicting that inflation won’t be as bad this time as it was in 2022 when fertiliser more than doubled in price. But even if they are right the inflation currently being experienced by farmers is not sustainable and the government needs to step up. Before the last election I said that there had to be subsidies on fertiliser at times of inflation”.
Deputy Lawless continued: “There are levies being applied to imported fertiliser under the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which should be suspended for the duration of this crisis. But that decision is in the hands of the EU rather than the Irish government. The reason I think the government should step in with immediate subsidies is because I’m very concerned about a potential domino effect on prices. If fertiliser goes up, then everything else goes up too – especially the cost of food and groceries. Working people are already struggling in terms of groceries and energy costs. If fertiliser costs keep going up like they did before it could lead to a 10% increase in the cost of food”.
“We have an opportunity here to nip this inflation in the bud before it reaches the supermarkets and shelves. I have submitted a number of parliamentary questions today around the cost of subsidising fertiliser as it is hard to measure. I am not confident that the EU would suspend a carbon levy at the behest of Ireland. The government would do well to intervene now despite the cost because we’d save money in the long run if we slowed the pace or eliminated the potential of a ripple-effect inflation reaching the supermarkets. I have written to the chair of the Oireachtas Agricultural Committee on which I sit asking that we call farm contractors and organisations before us so we can discuss what is at stake and come up with solutions on fertiliser and green diesel costs. Aontú was the only party to vote against the Climate Action Bill in the Dáil because we knew it would lead to carbon tax. The whole premise of carbon tax is to try to drive people away from carbon-fuels towards green options, but it is being used as a stick to beat people who have no alternatives. Farmers need green diesel to work, and they don’t have an alternative. You can’t cut silage with an electric car. Carbon tax should not be applied to green diesel because the people who use it don’t have any alternative option”, concluded Lawless.
ENDS
086 086 5117
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For Written Answer on : 24/02/2026
Question Number(s): 829 Question Reference(s): 14901/26
Department: Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Asked by: Paul Lawless T.D.
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QUESTION
To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine if his Department has undertaken efforts to measure the average percentage increase in the cost of fertiliser in each of the past ten years; and if he will provide this data to this Deputy, setting the base year of 2015 as the 100% figure – Paul Lawless.
REPLY
The Central Statistics office collate data in respect of fertiliser prices. The table below sets out the CSO Agricultural Input Price Index for the three principal types of fertilisers and covers the period 2015 to 2025 . It should be noted that the table takes account of a rebasing of the index which took place in 2020, but all figures below are with reference to 2015.
|
|
Fertilisers (Overall) |
Straight fertilisers |
Compound fertilisers |
|
2015 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
|
2016 |
86.19 |
82.26 |
87.62 |
|
2017 |
81.47 |
77.93 |
82.21 |
|
2018 |
86.36 |
84.09 |
86.66 |
|
2019 |
90.85 |
88.63 |
91.24 |
|
2020 |
82.03 |
77.55 |
82.29 |
|
2021 |
101.76 |
102.07 |
101.14 |
|
2022 |
219.52 |
252.09 |
212.25 |
|
2023 |
153.63 |
157.99 |
152.03 |
|
2024 |
116.38 |
114.14 |
115.22 |
|
2025 |
126.41 |
128.21 |
124.23 |
In general, fertiliser prices in 2025 were c. 25% higher than in 2015 but prices experienced significant volatility during that period.
My Department has no function in terms of fertiliser prices beyond the regulatory function of ensuring products placed on the market are in keeping with the fertiliser regulatory framework and that standards such as nutrient content etc. are as described.
