Mr. Seamus Sherlock:

As rural development chairman, I deal with many dry stock farmers on a weekly basis. The level of financial debt in the family farm is astounding. The number of dry stock farmers who are basically living hand to mouth is scary.

There were newspaper reports about the price of green diesel increasing that sent shockwaves through our membership. People rang to say that they could hardly put diesel in their tractors as things stood and that an increase in the price of diesel would see them walking.

Blame whoever one likes for farm debt - the banks or the farmers who borrowed - but it remains a major problem and is nowhere near being solved yet. The number of farmers who contact me or the ICSA monthly for help is not decreasing. A large number of people are still ringing us asking what they can do. I want to ensure that there is a realisation out there about how bad the situation remains. The problem is that many farmers are not great at discussing the issue. Unfortunately, this has led to many taking their own lives because they could not cope. I get phone calls at midnight from fellows whom I have never met. When one gets a call from a farmer at that time, he or she is under severe pressure. There is only so much that anyone can do for him or her. When I plead with the banks to work with us on solving the problem, I tell them that the blame game is over. Anything that these institutions can do to make a situation easier for a farmer, they should do it. My main objective is to keep as many family farms going as possible. The family farm is the institution that built this country. Without it, we will have no country.

Issues such as diesel increases send shockwaves around the country. Our president mentioned the ANC scheme payment. When I spoke to the Minister, Deputy Creed, I could not urge him enough to increase that payment to its original level over the next two or three budgets. It would give a significant lift to rural Ireland. Some €1,500 per household would equate to approximately €30 per week, which would put petrol or diesel in many farmers' cars for the week. They could keep bringing their kids to school and so on. It is a small amount of money in one way, but a large amount in another. If we want to keep family farms alive, it is imperative that we all work together.