The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has been asked to find savings of up to €26 million next year.

It comes as Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers confirmed the levies to be applied to government departments following an overspend in education.

In response to parliamentary questions from Social Democrats TD Cian O'Callaghan and Labour TD Ged Nash, Minister Chambers confirmed that the proposed levy to be applied for the department of agriculture was 1.3%.

Levy

Minister Chambers said that in April, the government agreed that "additional funding of €646 million will be provided to the Department of Education and Youth in 2026".

"To accommodate this reprioritisation and deliver on the 2027 ceiling agreed under the Medium Term Fiscal Structural Plan (MTFP), other departments have been asked to deliver a levy focusing on efficiencies and reforms which will total €446 million from 2027," he said.

Minister Chambers added that "this should be considered through the lens of an overall uplift of €7 billion for expenditure in 2027".

He said the levies will not impact the 2026 allocations made to departments.

The scale of "the efficiencies to be found" ranges from 0.02% to 1.4% on the 2026 current expenditure funding.

Minister Chambers said the distribution of the levy across departments has been "designed to protect certain" areas including, housing, frontline pay and pensions and specialist disability services.

DAFM

The department of agriculture has a gross allocated budget of €2.3 billion for 2026.

This represents a €170 million or 9% increase from 2025 and includes €1.967 billion in current expenditure and a €335 million capital programme.

A spokesperson for DAFM told Agriland: "The Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation has written to this department regarding a proposed expenditure levy to be applied in 2027".

"The proposed levy will be based on the department's current expenditure allocation for 2026, with capital expenditure exempted from the levy. The levy is due to apply in 2027," they added.

Based on DAFM's current expenditure allocation for this year, this means the department will have to identify savings of €25.6 million for 2027.

Minister Chambers said it would be up to each department to identify "efficiencies and reforms", adding "that this would form a key element of the estimates engagement for Budget 2027".

"It is a matter for each department to determine how the levy will be applied across the vote group and identify the efficiencies and reforms required to ensure this," he said.