Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not think that is the concern that has been voiced. I have no doubt that if established dairy farmers grow their businesses and do not have to borrow inordinate amounts of money, they will be able to take the vicissitudes and volatility that are inevitably involved in any world trade commodity. The big worry people have, as we should know from what has happened in recent years, is that those who borrow large amounts to expand, or who do not have huge experience in the industry and lack that knowledge of a lifetime passed from family to family, will rush in and have money thrown at them. Then when the price drops or anything else goes wrong, they are totally vulnerable. I see this particularly in the people who went bust when the housing bubble burst. If they had bought their houses with cash, all they would have to do is to wait long enough for the value of their houses to rise again. The problem is that they bought them on borrowed money. On the other hand, the forestry industry, which I am very familiar with, survived despite a massive shock because they had not borrowed. They were cash-rich businesses, so that when shock came, they could absorb it, gain new markets and get over the hump. This has meant that we have not had one casualty.