Mr. John Comer:

Thank you very much, a Chathaoirligh. I will be as brief as possible because when one listens to other farm organisations, one recognises that there is much common ground in certain respects and repetition will not serve anyone well.

I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his elevation to the Chair of this committee. I wish the new committee very well in its future endeavours in trying to serve the citizens of the country. I wish to refer to the importance of the agrisector, which generates €11 billion worth of exports. The fact that most of the production is indigenous means we are major contributors to net foreign earnings in this country. The point is often missed in terms of our importance in bringing other currencies into this country as net foreign earnings.

We are concerned about the crisis that has befallen the dairy sector and rural economies. Full-time farming, especially the dairy sector, is the mainstay of economic and environmental sustainability in rural areas. When one adds the multiplier effect from 14 through 16, we have quantified that the rural economy has lost more than €800 million of spend. That is a significant amount and there is an onus on us all to try to correct the situation. It is possible to do that if we structure our industry correctly. We can do well. I am on the record as stating previously that the three main stakeholders are the individual business person, who must look in the mirror and make him or herself as efficient as possible. After that one must look to the Government, facilitated by this committee, to put structures and policies in place to help us do business in such a volatile marketplace. The third main stakeholder is the European Commission and the European Parliament. The prize is to have a safe, secure supply of affordable food for the citizens of the Continent. That is not a big ask, but we are in a situation now where ruinous volatility has visited the most vibrant sector in this country. There was no need for us to go there if we all worked in a collaborative and professional fashion in order to invent new policies and tools to put in the armoury of the farmer to mitigate against such volatility.

Milk prices have increased by 1 cent to 2 cent in recent weeks but the crisis is not over and we cannot take our eye off the ball.

The question is whether it is a big cashflow issue or whether it will be structural. We are at the tipping point. Farmers are used to dealing with cashflow. Once the profits come at a certain point, one can manage the cashflow but if one falls below the cost of production, which has happened - that has been recognised by everybody - then structural damage begins to affect the entire industry. We need to focus our attention on that today.

I wish to highlight issues raised previously. It is coming to a crunch point now with bills from contractors and merchant debtors mounting. I submitted a comprehensive document which I wish to commit to the record. I do not believe in reading stuff out so I will continue to refer to notes I have prepared.