Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank members for being constructive, which is helpful. It has been suggested that there are two problems, namely, fodder and money. I accept that money is a problem for some farmers, but the main priority for farmers across the country is to feed their animals. That must be the focus of the funds we have available to us to spend. The emergency welfare fund is about feeding animals that will otherwise not be fed, for whatever reason. We are less interested in the reason and more interested in ensuring the animals are fed. We will then work with owners to establish why it was necessary. Obviously, we want to get large volumes of fodder into the State by getting a real drive going through co-operatives, which is what we are doing.

On the money issue, I have got a very strong sense from co-operatives, banks and, to a certain extent, feed merchants that they will make extra credit available even to people who have reached credit ceilings to get them over this particular crisis. They are not going to let animals starve due to a lack of credit. If I thought access to credit was a major problem, we would look at addressing it. All of the indications I have received from banks and co-operatives are that credit is available even for people in difficult financial situations to buy feed to get farmers and their herds over a difficult period and into a normal growing season. I am not talking about remortgaging houses or rescheduling machinery loans. If credit is not available and people cannot feed their animals, they should contact us and we will feed them.

A number of people have asked how the system works. We have deliberately left the system as it is to allow our DVOs to use their common sense. We set up an animal welfare hotline some 18 months ago as part of the Department's animal welfare initiative and in the context of the legislation the Houses of the Oireachtas spent many hours debating. It allows members of the public to pick up the phone and express to departmental officials concerns about welfare situations in urban and rural areas, including where farm animals cannot be fed. If farmers themselves have concerns about the welfare of their own animals where they cannot afford to keep them, they can also use the hotline. We will respond. The line is open until midnight every night. If no one answers, we will revert to a person who leaves a message within half an hour. The line is being monitored all the time. I have had some of my staff test it to ensure that it is working and we have assigned extra staff due to the significant increase of activity on the line. Where a person expresses concern, we contact a local DVO and a vet will go to talk to the person concerned.

This is not an attempt to catch people out or attribute blame, it is a welfare response. The last paragraph of the note which has recently been circulated to DVOs may give members an idea of the kinds of actions we are taking. It sets out that this is a short-term measure. It recommends that arrangements for delivery of circa ten bales of silage or ten bales of hay - though this could vary depending on the herd size - or equivalent feed value concentrate be made immediately for farmers in need. It suggests that a limit of €500 to €1,000 can be authorised by the local veterinary officer and an invoice sent to the Department. This is about the immediate injection of feed into a farm that needs it to ensure animals do not starve. We are working with all sorts of people to ensure that we can access the necessary feed. If someone contacts his or her local IFA representative or other farm organisation, those bodies can approach us and we will follow the matter up. If people contact their Teagasc advisors or local DVOs, the mechanism can also be triggered. We are here to help people who are in extreme situations.

I will not allow any animal to starve if the Department is given notice and can intervene. It is what we are trying to do in the Department. Whatever it costs, it costs. I will have to find the money in our budget and if we have to take the money from other schemes, we will. It will not cost that much as our programme is targeted on individual cases. Whatever money is needed will be made available. The system is deliberately a flexible one to ensure that veterinarians and authorised officers are not prevented from responding due to a technical qualification criterion. We want the scheme to be flexible to ensure that we can respond to urgent situations. That is necessary in many cases. We know the farming community very well in the committee and that many farmers wait until the last minute to call for help. We must, therefore, intervene quickly to ensure we put the necessary assistance in place.

The question of non-dairy co-operative customers is an important one.

Many have asked me if Dairygold or Glanbia would help a non-dairy co-operative customer. We have received a clear commitment from the chief executives of the co-ops that everyone in their catchment areas will be helped as some dry stock farms are faced with difficult circumstances too. Many dry stock farmers will have accounts with co-op agri-stores and will be able to pick up what they need from them. In Dairygold’s case, it had been limiting its stocks to one bale per farmer which would have fed about 130 cattle for a day. It had to ration stocks to ensure there would be enough supplies for everyone. I hope that will change in the coming days. In the note I received an hour ago all of the co-ops are ramping up the volumes of fodder they are bringing in.

There was a request of an advance payment of €1,000 to every farmer in the disadvantaged area scheme, DAS, and the single farm payment scheme. It is important to be realistic about this. My Department is not a bank. The total for such advance payments would come to €100 million, a cost we cannot carry. I do not have it and would have to ask the Department of Finance to give it to me five months before it should paid. My Department would then have to carry the bridging cost. We do not have the facility to do this. However, if I could do it, I would.

I met the European agriculture Commissioner before a Council meeting this week. I informed him about our fodder crisis and made it clear Ireland would be applying for early payment of the single farm payment. I hope half of the payment will be made six weeks earlier to improve farmers’ cash flow in the autumn. Everyone knows, however, that DAS payments are made in September every year around the same time as the National Ploughing Championships. If I could, I would bring forward the payments. However, I cannot raise expectations on something I cannot deliver. We will pay out early on those schemes on which we can such as the AEOS, the agri-environment options scheme. In the next ten days to two weeks we anticipate paying out €2 million in AEOS 2 payments. We paid out €500,000 last week to 800 farmers in AEOS 1 final payments. All of these were problem cases which required clarification.

Deputy Ferris commented on farmers exploiting each other. It is important to balance that comment by saying there are many farmers who are giving their neighbours fodder free of charge. Much of this is being facilitated by farm organisations. I can name many farmers in my area who have been feeding their neighbours’ animals for three weeks already and have not charged them for it. I accept there is some exploitation, with people looking to profit from other people’s misery. That should not be happening, but that is what happens when one has a market in which there is massive demand and little or no supply.

The waste of fertiliser is an issue. Farmers have had to pay a fortune to feed animals they would normally be feeding with silage. The cost of grazing animals at this time of year should be about 50 cent a day per animal as opposed to €4 per animal per feed ration. That is a big difference and it is costing the sector a fortune every day. Even with all of this, the banks still want to lend money into the system, as they think this can be a profitable year for farmers who will be able to pay off their debts. The banks are also stating that if a farmer cannot pay off this year, they are willing to put repayment schedules in place in the next 18 months to two years. Ulster Bank’s proposal in its weather fund has a standard 18 month repayment period rather than six to seven months. I encourage farmers to test the banking system. If what the banks are telling me is not happening, I need to know about it and I will publicly highlight it, if it is the case. I can understand the scepticism around banks, but that is the case across so many other sectors too. It is one of the reasons farmers are not engaging with their banks on this issue.

I agree with Deputy Deering that milk volumes are down. It is in everyone’s interests to get grass growing. That is why we need to make fertiliser affordable and available through credit. Everyone recognises that solving this problem is like solving Ireland’s wider economic problem and doing so will help grow the economy. This is about moving away from emergency measures of having to import from the United Kingdom and growing our own grass. We grow grass better than anyone else in the world. Teagasc has informed me today that it is switching its advice focus not only on fodder management but also on financial management in getting over this credit problem for farming. I encourage farmers to speak to their Teagasc advisers, as well as private agricultural advisers.

I know Connacht Gold has made a product available which is cheaper than ration would normally be. That is a useful and good response to what is happening. However, animals need roughage too. One cannot feed animals on pure meal alone. That is why many farmers are mixing meal with straw. It is a stopgap measure but not the solution we need. We need grass, hay and haylage.