Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have been a farmer all my life and I understand very well what farmers are going through and have gone through since 16 June last, since it started raining first. This €100 per hectare is €40 per acre for grain. God almighty, €40 an acre would not bring home one bag of messages. Farmers are being blamed for everything. Farmers are providing food, and if we do not produce it, others will and we will be importing it. Farmers in Ireland produce sustainable food, milk and beef from green grass.

It is sad to see Deputies in the Chamber blaming the farmers for the weather. God almighty, we have only to look at history. In the 1740s we had two years of incessant rain where a third of our population died because they starved and many of our animals died at that time as well. Then there were years like 1847, 1883 and 1886, and there were fewer diesel engines then. There were no diesel engines in the 1740s. I know the Green Party is making the Government do this but getting us to pay carbon tax will not settle the weather.

I am asking the Government to pay all the outstanding payments to the farmers and give them €100 of a subsidy or voucher towards buying grain feed. That would be something to do for them.

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