Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. In 1989 I erected three mushroom tunnels with Foxfield Mushrooms so I used to know an awful lot about the mushroom industry. I worked there for many years. I also worked for Walsh Mushrooms and interacted with growers across the midlands and the west. I often visited Mr. Reilly's yard. Therefore, I am very conscious of the sector.

At that time it was an industry in which three to seven tunnels was the average on a farm and farmers would employ a number of housewives in the locality. That was how the system worked. It has matured and developed a lot since then and has grown into a very big business in which there are fewer growers. In a sense, that is what makes it more vulnerable. Many mushroom farmers are heavily indebted, having invested hugely in their businesses, and the current price volatility is putting them under serious pressure.

At the time of the Brexit referendum it was said that the result could have a hugely negative effect on businesses that were exporting to Britain, particularly agrifood businesses. In the mushroom business in the mid-1980s, a person who got 50p for a pound was doing okay, 55p meant he or she was flying but anything below 50p meant that person was in serious trouble. Sterling was always a problem and there was always some fluctuation in the currency.

I fully appreciate the demand for a reduction in employers' PRSI but that could be problematic in the context of state aid rules if it is done for one sector but not for others. While I am not trying to foresee problems, that could be a difficult obstacle to overcome. At the time of the Brexit vote I spoke to the Taoiseach and urged him to go to the European Union and ask that a special fund be put in place for small Irish enterprises which will be very negatively affected by what has happened in another EU state. What happened is not our responsibility but many our businesses will be in serious jeopardy because of it. There is still a case to be made for such a fund and if we structure the request properly, we will get a fair hearing from the European Commission. A fund should be put in place to protect businesses.

We do not know what will happen because Article 50 has not been triggered yet. Once that is triggered we will know where we are going. In the meantime, some structure should be put in place that gets around those EU rules about state intervention in the market. There is a clear reason for such intervention. We have an industry which is already established and employing people. We are not trying to set up something new. The industry is here already and doing very well. There is a strong case to be made by the Irish authorities for a fund to be put in place by the EU to help Irish businesses. The mushroom sector could benefit very much from that.

In the long term the mushroom industry will survive and will continue to flourish and grow. However, it will experience difficulties, as is the case now. Most of the difficulties, as in the example given regarding Poland, are external. While I know that the building boom caused difficulties in terms of wage inflation, most of the factors inhibiting the industry are external. There is a strong case to be made that in the aftermath of Brexit, the European Commission would put a fund in place to support Irish small businesses. Alternatively, the EU could set aside some of the rules around state intervention, given the special circumstances. Those arguments need to be made.

The issue of the use of wood chip was raised and I know that similar issues arise in the poultry industry. There are differences in the cost of production north and south of the Border because farmers in the North can use wood chip boilers, which keeps their costs of production low because the fuel is heavily subsidised. The same issue is relevant to the mushroom industry and such a system needs to be brought in here. It is a clear no-brainer because it ticks all of the environmental boxes. I fully support the delegates in this regard.

I thank the witnesses and apologise for not being here earlier but I had to be in the Dáil Chamber for a priority question.