Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank everyone who contributed to the debate. I thank Sinn Féin and Deputy Naughten for their amendments, which we will be accepting. As everyone has outlined, the debates today and yesterday take place at a time of grave uncertainty for our beef sector and great difficulty for the farming community. What we have seen over the last weeks needs to lead to a total change in the relationships within the beef supply chain. There is a need to ensure that farmers become respected, that they actually get full information and are a key partner in how beef is priced and in respect of the margin they get in it, that they are no longer trampled upon as has been their feeling and experience for many years now. There is a clear understanding that the agreement from the weekend offers a basis to move forward. However, in terms of the prices factories are offering to farmers, we also need to see the factories ensuring that the base price is the best possible price that can be offered, given the market circumstances and the background. They need to understand that farmers must be given fair play.

We also need to see the Government do its part and start listening to the farming community. That certainly has not been the case up until now. Many debates and motions have been put forward by ourselves and other parties to which the Government has not responded. In tonight's motion, we also call for more action from the Government on live exports and a commitment on gaining additional funds from Europe to help support the losses farmers have experienced in recent months. The Tánaiste is here tonight. He is in Europe very regularly and, while there has not been any commitment from him tonight in this regard, I emphasise that we need to hear him say he will go to the European Commission and seek to deliver further funding. The beef exceptional aid measure, BEAM, fund that was in place covers a reference period of September to May. Prices have been worse since then. The Government needs to make a contribution to support the income of farmers for the losses they have already experienced in the past few months. We have not heard that tonight. Overall, the lesson has to be that everyone must work together. Farmers, who are the foundation of our food industry, must be respected for being just that. They must not be treated as cannon fodder or expected to carry a loss while everybody else and the national Exchequer benefit from the hard work they carry out.

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