Minister Heydon launches national Plant Health and Biosecurity Strategy 2026-2030
- Published on: 8 May 2026
- Last updated on: 8 May 2026
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD, has launched the second Plant Health and Biosecurity Strategy 2026-2030 at an event at the Backweston laboratories in Kildare.
Attendees heard that plants produce 98% of the oxygen we breathe and make up 80% of the food we eat and the protection of plant health is not simple, as the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that up to 40% of food crops are lost every year because of plant pests, leaving millions of people around the world without enough food to eat and with a devastating impact on agriculture - the primary source of income in poorer rural communities.
The Minister also pointed out that other factors make protecting plant health more difficult such as international travel and trade. These have increased significantly in the last 20 years and can facilitate the spread of pests and diseases around the world.
Launching the new strategy, Minister Heydon said:
“I am delighted to launch our Plant Health and Biosecurity Strategy for the period 2026-2030. The strategy’s vision aims to protect Ireland’s agriculture, horticulture and forestry sectors and the wider environment from plant pests and diseases thereby safeguarding food security, facilitating safe trade and protecting the environment. Plants produce 98% of the oxygen we breathe and more than 80% of the food we eat. Healthy plants make a significant contribution to agricultural production, food security, economic activity, biodiversity, environmental health, and people’s wellbeing.”
The strategy acknowledges Ireland’s key natural advantages, geographical isolation and temperate climate, which help prevent pest and disease incursions and outbreaks, but it also identifies that risks to plant health are increasing due to increased globalisation, e-commerce and climate change. In line with EU legislation the Department implements measures, to mitigate against these risks. The Department has prepared contingency plans for 15 priority pests, including the Asian longhorn beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) and Xylella fastidiosa, which means that if any of these were found in Ireland, the Department has a plan to urgently respond with a view to eradicating and/or controlling them.
Xylella fastidiosa is a bacterial disease that causes severe damage to a wide range of plants, including oak, cherry and ash and is carried by sap feeding insects. Xylella fastidiosa has been detected in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal and if it spread across the entire EU, could cause an annual production loss of €5.5 billion and put nearly 300,000 jobs at risk. As part of Ireland’s surveillance for the disease, in the last five years, 1,099 samples have been taken and tested for the disease by the Department with no detections of the pest.
The Department has also prepared a plant pest contingency plan for the Asian longhorn beetle, a highly destructive pest which poses a threat to a wide range of broad-leaved trees. In 2012 an outbreak in the UK required over 2,000 trees to be felled as part of the government response and eradication was deemed successful, however it came at a cost of more than €1.1 million.
A previously identified risk, the potato tuber moth (Phthorimaea operculella) which poses a serious threat to potato production was detected by Department inspectors last year in a consignment of potatoes imported from Egypt. The consequences of an established population of these moths in Ireland would significantly affect Ireland’s €80-100 million potato industry. Following the Department inspection, the consignment was immediately rejected and re-exported, and the relevant authorities were notified with the rapid response preventing potential spread into the wider environment and supply chain.
The strategy recognises the importance of cooperation between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Department of Agriculture, Environment, Rural Affairs and the Agri-Food and Bioscience Institute in Northern Ireland to maintain an all-island approach to safeguard plant health and biosecurity.
Minister Heydon concluded:
“Cooperation and collaboration are crucial to protecting our plant health and biosecurity. I would like to acknowledge the ongoing cooperation and collaboration at European and International level and with our stakeholders including the Plant Health and Biosecurity Stakeholder Network and Forest Health Stakeholder Network. Plant health and biosecurity is in everyone’s interest, and I encourage everyone to play their part.”
Learn more on the Department's website or access a copy of the second Plant Health and Biosecurity Strategy 2026-2030.
ENDS
Notes to editor:
The Plant Health and Biosecurity Strategy 2026-2030 sets out three strategic goals:
Goal 1: Risk anticipation aims to anticipate and mitigate plant health and biosecurity risks.
Goal 2: Risk surveillance and management aims to put in place surveillance and management programmes to proactively detect, manage and mitigate plant pests and diseases and,
Goal 3: Risk awareness and communication aims to increase plant health and biosecurity awareness among stakeholders, landowners, and the public, and inform them of their responsibilities and positive actions they can take to protect plant health and biosecurity.
The Strategy identifies 15 strategic objectives and 45 priority actions to achieve the strategic goals.
Plant health and biosecurity in numbers
- 16,083 consignments of plants, plant products and other objects subject to import controls in 2025
- 9,220 consignments subject to physical inspection in 2025
- 2,780 phytosanitary certificates issued in 2025, facilitating approximately €63 million in exports
- 9,000+ inspections for protected zone pests annually
- 21,000+ inspections for EU priority pests annually
- 2,000+ inspections for Union quarantine pests annually