Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the IFA delegation for its presentation today and concur with much of what was said. Mr. Tom Fadian put it very well when he spoke about the west of Ireland, the interdependency of coastal communities and so forth. I refer to the huge damage that has been done to the west in particular with the economic decline and so forth. Many young people who potentially are good farmers have been obliged to leave the country as a consequence of being unable to make a living there. The witnesses' overview has outlined well the various cuts that have hit the farming community over the past four to five years in particular. Successive austerity budgets have hit the more vulnerable and weakened sectors within the farming communities. In this context, one is talking about hill farmers, persons with smallholdings and people who are trying to scrape a living and feed their families from what is not the most desirable land. However, the biggest disgrace ever in recent budgets, for which no one can ever explain any moral reason, was the cutting of farm assist. Farm assist payments kept people alive and living on the land. I cannot understand how any Government could take away from the more vulnerable and the weakest. As Mr. Flor McCarthy will be aware, some farmers in our home county of Kerry were absolutely dependent on farm assist to try to keep food on the table. They now find themselves being absolutely crucified by what has happened.

The section in the presentation on CAP reform has put the point well that farmers need certainty of funding and of income. If this activity is to be passed on to another generation of young farmers, there must be an element of certainty to it. Part of this certainty has come about through dependency on grants and so forth and on schemes that were in place to help people to stay on the land. In addition, by being able to stay on the land on foot of the existence of the assistance available for them, farmers are producing food for the food chain at a reasonable, subsidised price. As for the reference to an average family income of €15,441, no one in any other sector would work for that amount. I acknowledge there are farmers who are making an awful lot of money but the majority of members of the farming community are on a low income. Their general contribution to society and the communities is of huge importance for this country and for its recovery, which also depends on it.

Mr. Gunning mentioned, in the review of the commonage stocking levels, a new upland agri-environmental scheme, a consultative committee and an appeal scheme, which are all interrelated. Has anything emerged in this regard from the IFA's consultations and negotiations with the Minister? Deputy Ó Cuív is correct in that the IFA has been involved in negotiations for 12 months and members have been kept in the dark about much of it except what they glean from occasional briefings from the IFA, which is what brings them up to date. It would be nice to learn some progress is being made on the review of the commonage stocking levels. In this context, members heard a presentation from the United Farmers Association earlier at which its representatives also laid out matters in great detail. Although there are obviously differences, there was considerable commonality between the two presentations.

In respect of commonages, there are dormant commonage stakeholders, some of whom simply are not taking up their entitlements or rights to use the commonage. However, I believe that many of them have died off and there is no actual connection to the commonage in question. Do the witnesses have figures to hand in this regard? Is a proactive approach being taken by the farming associations to identify dormant stakeholders who no longer exist, for want of a better expression? Were that the case and were such shares to be redistributed within the commonage, it would increase the intake for the commonage stakeholders who are working the commonage rather than having it lie dormant. As something needs to be done in a proactive fashion, has the IFA discussed this with the Government? Someone made a point that competent farmers know best how to look after the commonages and so forth. While I thoroughly agree with that point, there are people who are not competent farmers about whom I would have a different view. That said, practically all farmers of my acquaintance are competent and capable people who have the best interest in protecting the environment in which they work and do a very good job in that regard.

As for the past ten years in respect of grazing and overgrazing, a situation now is being reached in many areas where there is under-grazing. The question then arises as to how one restores hills that have been under-grazed for a considerable length of time. At a meeting last week, members heard mention of a burn-off and only yesterday, I looked back at Kerry Head and Brandon to see the whole place was on fire. While I am quite sure it was not planned, it was happening anyway. A planned approach is needed in this regard and an extension of the season for this is required. One could have the same regime as obtains in the North and could have it extend from September up to mid-April or the beginning of May. That makes sense as how could one burn off anything from last October right through until the beginning of February this year? One could burn nothing off because the ground was saturated. Is the IFA having success in its talks and negotiations with the relevant authorities regarding this issue? I again thank the witnesses for the presentation and will leave it at that.