Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We all know the situation because we have all dealt with farmers across our constituencies. They have spoken to us about the difficulties they have had to deal with lately. To some extent we knew from January that we were going to have a fodder shortage and that particular issues would need to be addressed.

I cannot let this moment go without bringing up again the serious floods in north County Louth, particularly in the Cooley Peninsula. In fairness, Teagasc has been to the area, has surveyed a number of farms, assessed the damage and determined the works that need to be done. As we acknowledged in previous conversations about this, part of the problem is that there is not an off-the-shelf system for dealing with these sorts of situations. I hope the Minister and his team will look at the Teagasc report and we will see the necessary supports provided to those farmers who have been severely impacted by those floods. I would not get away with talking on agricultural issues without raising this matter. It is an issue that is constantly being raised with me by Councillor Antóin Watters.

I also raise this issue because a number of farmers in that area have contacted me about the fact that supports were given out to some in the past, in relation to Foot and Mouth, for example, but there were questions regarding disparities between certain farmers. There may be a need to look at this. This is the subject of two questions I have submitted to the Minister for tomorrow. We will see if the questions lottery is lucky for me; I have not checked yet. I would be delighted if I could get an answer, particularly in relation to the timeline for supports following the flooding.

We are going to be dealing with more and more of these types of incidents so we will need off-the-shelf solutions. Like a lot of Members, I have been contacted by a number of farmers about the fodder transport scheme. I accept that when the Department puts together a scheme there always will be issues. Some people are giving out about the 75 km limit. They are saying they could get fodder once they buy it from someone who is 75 km away at a weighbridge and so on. I accept that it is a transport scheme but there are specific issues for certain people. The requirement for the involvement of a cooperative, like Lakeland Dairies for example, is causing difficulties. Farmers contacted some of the cooperatives but they said they were only dealing with farmers who were already clients or who had a relationship with them over the previous six months. We need to make sure people do not fall through the cracks and miss out on these particular supports.

Across the board everyone is talking about ensuring that we have sustainable farming. We know the way rural Ireland is set up at this point and while not everybody who lives in rural Ireland is a farmer, farming is a significant player in the local economy and community. We have to ensure that farming can be sustainable. We all know the importance of making sure we have a guaranteed food supply.

The idea of CAP across Europe was to have a food supply that was up to a particular specification and of a particular quality. We have seen issues in the past while partly because of an urbanised voter base across Europe. We need to do a serious amount of work with whatever has been lost previously in making sure the nitrates derogation is maintained. We need to have a real look at the supports that are needed across the board and what we can do to facilitate them. We need to have that conversation with farmers around maintaining sustainable family farms. We need a family farm system that works for us in respect of providing food into the future but that also works for them so they can get a living out of it. In dealing with the issues we face due to climate change, we need to put in place those supports for farming. We know farmers went wholesale into dairy on the basis of incentives given by Teagasc, the Department and others. We need to provide the supports and incentives that are necessary for maintaining sustainable and renewable farming.

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