Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When I received submissions from farm organisations in advance of the budget, they asked for an affordable finance product. To be fair, all of them have raised with me the specific issue in the tillage sector. Unfortunately, I am constrained on two fronts. First, I do not have an endless amount of resources because I used what scope I had to invest in the loan fund. Second, I am legally constrained by the de minimisrules in the aid I can provide. Although the tillage sector is important in the context of our agricultural activity, we are a relatively small player at EU level. There has not been a clamour from the major grain growing states, particularly France, Poland, Hungary and Romania, for a rescue package. If that happens, we will certainly hitch our wagon to that momentum. There is no evidence, however, that a realistic campaign by the major grain growing countries for a compensation package is under way. I appreciate that there has been a very difficult global tillage scenario for a number of years. The bumper harvests that have been accompanied by downward pressures on prices are having a spillover effect.