Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

It is interesting there is such a disparity between the numbers the Minister has quoted, which are correct according to the census, and the number of people who are declaring as farmers. Fewer people are declaring as farmers because they must have another occupation when they cannot make enough money from their farms. In the census, they declare they are not farmers but are something else. That shows us that something is changing in the sector behind those figures.

What is the average age of farmers? Some 33% of farmers are now over the age of 65, which again shows the direction in which Irish farming is moving. Farms are getting bigger. We have a system of managed decline of the farming sector by this Government. If it is not managed decline, then the Government is failing to stop the decline. It is either managed decline or the Government is failing in its objective to stop the decline in farming. There are many threats. Farming is in a sea of threats at the moment. Those issues include cost increases, the structure of the food market, the Green Party and regulation from the EU. All of those issues are creating significant difficulties for farmers at the moment.

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