Clare farmer and father-of-four says ‘no major changes’ from Budget 2026

A farmer and father-of-four from Co Clare has said that the budget will not make a massive difference to his family or farm.

Daniel McMahon, from O’Callaghan’s Mills, who has been a suckler farmer for 13 years, said that any support for the costs faced by families would help.

He welcomed the doubled funding to help eradicate bovine TB.

He said the extension of the income tax regard of 400 euro for households who sell electricity back to the grid until 2028 would prompt him to look into getting solar panels.

Mr McMahon and his wife, Susan, a teacher, have four children, Daithi, three, Gearoid, six, Roisin, seven, and Donall, nine.

He said the cost of living is “very expensive” and the carbon tax increase in the Budget “won’t be huge” but “will put a little increase on everything”.

He said that electricity is “a big cost” on the farm and has been steadily increasing over the last five years, but coincided with a good year for the price of cattle.

He said energy credits would have been a great help, and that small increases in welfare payments can “end up giving a small bit to everyone and it’s then maybe no good to anyone”.

“Anything that helps with putting food on the table and things like that is positive,” he added.

“Overall there’s no major changes in the Budget from what I can see.

“I would say I’m happy enough. From a farming point of view there were no major changes but the fact that they increased the TB eradication, I’m happy with that.”

Budget 2026 provides for 85 million euro extra for a scheme to eradicate bovine TB which reduces the risks of outbreaks.

“That’s a big safety because there is a lot of TB at the moment and cattle were never as expensive as they are this year. If you lost an animal to TB and the animal was worth 5,000 euro, you might only get 3,500 euro to replace her.

“It is very positive.”

He added: “This year was the first year that we had a really good year in terms of the money that we’re getting for the animals that we’re producing.

“Unfortunately behind every good story like that, in the background, for nearly 20 years we weren’t making money, a lot of people reduced the cattle they were producing, which has increased the price for cattle.”

He said the number of farmers and the number of cattle are reducing as a result.

“It’s getting scary, it’s getting to the point where we could end up having a food scarcity in Europe.”