Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion on our largest indigenous industry, agriculture. We do not need a Private Members' motion to tell us; the facts speak for themselves. We have secured €10.7 billion in CAP funding and have added an additional €1.9 billion ourselves. I do not think we could make it any clearer how important agriculture has been and continues to be not just for the country but for the recovery of our economy, and not just for the beef sector but for all sectors.

We are talking about the beef sector in this debate. No one could deny that sector has had a tough few months and a difficult year. Prices are down 10% on last year even though we had an all-time high in prices last year. Farmers who bought store cattle at very high prices last year are losing money. They are not even breaking even. While we have a problem there, we cannot fix the prices. Prices are determined by supply and demand, and by influence of production, length of production, life cycle, market conditions, consumer confidence and so on. We know that confidence and demand for beef has dropped this year, not just in Ireland but everywhere. We have a surplus of more than 40,000 animals. We need to bring confidence back into the industry. We need to invest in the industry and we need to invest in our young farmers.

We all acknowledge that the horsemeat scandal has not done us any good, but we certainly have an excellent reputation in Ireland, especially when it comes to our traceability. Our animals are clean which is why we can see markets opening up again in the US and, one hopes, in China. I believe we will see the surplus of 40,000 slowly disappear and the process start to regulate, but we should not sit by and do nothing.

There is mistrust between the farmers and the factories. The factories had much to do with what has happened recently, as the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has acknowledged. He has spoken to the factories, but that is not enough. I welcome the efforts being made to try to balance the power along the supply chain through the Competition and Consumer Protection Bill. A number of people spoke about the establishment of a producer organisation in the beef sector. I have seen how Monaghan Mushrooms works. It is an excellent establishment and an excellent way of working. It could work for this industry. Certain problems could come along with that. We need to look possible processor feed lots. We have to be very specific in referring to the herdowner and things like that, but I think that can all be addressed in time.

We should not throw money at the problem. We need to invest. We are investing more than €40 million through different schemes this year, and we can build on that through the rural development plan that was submitted to the European Commission. I hope that with our new Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, we will be able to get something out of that.

We have an issue with losing Teagasc advisers in County Meath. I have raised it with the Minister on numerous occasions and I know he is working on it with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin. I ask him to continue working on it.

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