Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is the truth. We have forgotten that. I am amazed that nobody has said this tonight. I am a farmer. I was born on a farm. I know there have been ups and downs over recent years. Prices have been cyclical all through our lives. They will continue to be cyclical. We are living in an open, free market. I heard people saying the Minister needs to intervene by controlling the prices, but that is the last thing the farmers of Ireland want. If prices were being regulated by a regulator, the prices for which I saw cattle being sold in Roscommon last week could not be achieved. We are in a free market. We sell into a market.

The real problem we have relates to the fact that most of our beef is sold into the British market. A year and a half ago, the British consumer said that Irish prices were too high. That is what happened. As a result, British consumers decided to buy their own beef. That is why cattle prices in England are now higher than they are here, and British farmers are getting that much more. That is the reality. That is what is happening.

We need to continue to sell into the markets and try to explore new markets. Since he came into office, the Minister has been travelling the world to try to increase our market share all over the world. Earlier this year, we met the Chinese people who came over here. We showed them the product and the factories. We took them down to County Wicklow to see the farms where these animals are produced. They were impressed, but their vets have not come over yet. We are working on that. The Minister is going out in the next ten days to push that market. There is huge potential internationally. The American market is opening and we are working on that. We need to sell out on the market in a better way. I have a lot more I would like to say about many other areas, but I am almost out of time.

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