Heydon ‘acutely aware’ of difficulties with MyAgFood website
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon has acknowledged difficulties that some farmers have faced with MyAgFood.ie, and outlined efforts taken by his department to address concerns.
He made the comments in response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael Deputy Joe Cooney, who asked if the minister will consider permitting a second/separate person full access to the MyAgFood portal, alongside that of the herd-keeper.
Deputy Cooney said that this would "facilitate more effective administration of calf registration, animal movements and the general upkeep of the herd profile".
Minister Heydon said he is “acutely aware of the difficulties that some farmers have faced due to the recent changes around access to my department's AgFood.ie and MyAgFood.ie systems”.
“I do not take these issues lightly."
The minister added that he is "committed to exploring solutions", and will ask the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide him with "possible solutions for the specific issue that the deputy has raised".
“My department's systems must be secure in protecting our farmers' data and access to their accounts, but it must also be user-friendly and accommodate the realities of Irish farming practices on the ground," Minister Heydon said.
"Any solution to the issue at hand must be practical whilst still protecting farmer's data and safe access to IT systems.”
Login issues
Separately, also discussing the MyAgFood.ie website, Fianna Fáil Deputy Ryan O'Meara submitted a parliamentary question for Minister Heydon for an update on efforts taken to address concerns and login issues reported by farmers, following changes made to the agriculture food portal.
In response, the minister said: “My department provides several channels to our farmer customers to support any queries or issues they may encounter accessing online services, from online guidance documentation to explanatory videos, a chatbot, email contact address and telephone helpdesk where department staff directly assist farmers.”
Minister Heydon described MyAgFood.ie as “the new online platform for farmers to receive important updates from my department and apply for schemes in one place”.
“The existing online portal, agfood.ie, will remain available for a limited period to facilitate the transition to MyAgFood.ie," he added.
“Farmers with concerns can access any one of these channels. My department also continues to engage closely with farming representative bodies and is committed to continually improving services to department customers.
The minister highlighted that additional security measures were recently introduced to the website to help protect farmers’ personal, banking, and commercial data.
“There is significant help and advice available to help farmers to adapt to the new portal, which is designed to provide useful and user-friendly information, and to provide additional security assurances for access to their personal data, which is an absolute priority for my department," he added.
