Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Priorities of Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Discussion

5:00 pm

Photo of Michael D'ArcyMichael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One of the important issues is cashflow and everybody here understands that. The €150 million will be a huge benefit, if it gets out to the people concerned. That is the issue, so let us not tiptoe around it. If the pillar banks impose criteria that disallow the money from being disbursed, it is pointless. What are the Department's plans regarding the criteria for the €150 million and to what extent does it intend to be involved with that? Chairman, I believe this committee should make a presentation on those criteria to the Secretary General of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine. If this money is going to replace farmers' other loans and the only benefit to farmers is that they will have a lower interest rate, that is not a real benefit for the tight cashflow scenario in which people find themselves. That is one matter.

Regarding the TAMS and the breakdown, does Mr. O'Driscoll have data relating to the number of people who contacted the help-line with regard to slurry storage? Will he also give the breakdown of the €4.5 million for the local authority harbours?

On the pilot deer fencing project, while I am a Deputy from Wexford, the parish in which I live is bordered by Wicklow. The wooded areas and forest land reach into north Wexford, so there is a huge problem. There is no need to tell Mr. O'Driscoll about it as he is aware of it. Where the information and research is available, there should be prioritisation in the deer fencing project for people who have wildlife problems, particularly when a person's livelihood is at risk. It is really important. I am a dairy farmer and most of us might go down in the test once or twice in our lifetime. However, for people whose land bounds woodlands, going down every three years does not give them a viable livelihood. This is something every member of the committee should encourage. Those farmers are really stretched when they go down on that number of occasions.

Approximately 50% of our livestock beef goes to the UK market. It is important not to over-sell the penetration into some of the markets Mr. O'Driscoll itemised. We might have a presence in 60 different markets but the UK market might account for more than those. Perhaps Mr. O'Driscoll could give us a breakdown in that regard. I recall there was a benefit in getting back into the US market, but there were very few high end top cuts going there. Does Mr. O'Driscoll have a breakdown of the value of the product per market? I do not need the breakdown for all 50 or 60 but perhaps he could provide the top four or five if he has that information. That would be helpful.

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