Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the statement by the president of the IFA. It is a very powerful one which outlines where this industry is at the moment. We are at a crossroads. That has been mentioned previously in the context of contributions we heard earlier today. The biggest issue I can see at the moment is a lack of confidence. We have had four or five years of exceptionally bad prices and as milk and other commodities have been going well there has been a major shift away from grain to the dairy industry in particular. It is all about trying to rebuild confidence.

One of the issues Mr. Healy did not mention was the CAP and where that is going in the next few months. Does he fear that with the proposed renegotiation of CAP, in the context of Brexit, tillage farmers will be more affected than those in any other sector? Historically, they had higher payments than farmers in the dairy industry. Would the knock-on effect of that signal the death knell of the industry? Is that one of the key issues we need to consider in the context of the renegotiation of the CAP?

Mr. Healy referred to the world price. There have been many good years around the world but, unfortunately, in Ireland we have not had such good weather in the past two to three years and we have suffered because of it. Does he think the world price of grain has deflated the market and we are now looking at a surplus for one or two years or that a world event would change the price of grain? In my view the price of grain is at an all-time low. I do not expect much of a lift, if any, next year. It is possible that such a price for grain would be sustained in the future and that would have a huge knock-on effect. I will leave it at that.