Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentation. It contained charts from 2007 to 2013 showing that there has been a decline in the numbers of farmers. There were 300,000 farmers in Ireland when we joined the EU. We now have 120,000 farmers. It should not come as a shock to any body or group that farmer numbers have been in decline across Europe over the last 20 years. If I run a company and am losing money, I have to solve the problem straight away. I do not look at it for 15, 17 or 20 years. The witnesses can compile reports but if a political decision is taken by the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development, do they have any say in it? They have correctly pointed out that 80% of European grants go to 20% of farmers.

Deputy Cahill raised the issue of the family farm in Ireland. It has been decimated. The EU has brought in regulations which farmers have to adhere to, especially in the west, that mountains had to be destocked. Farmers cannot farm as they did before because of designations. The witnesses are wondering why we have lost such a large number of people - 41% in 20 years, as Deputy Martin Kenny pointed out. The reason is that people cannot farm their land. There has been no subsidy brought in for designated land. There has been a flight from the land, and that will continue unless the situation is addressed.

Ireland and ten other countries have to have a green certificate while the rest of the countries in the EU do not. I agree with the green certificate and believe that it is good for young farmers, but why is it not a requirement for the 27 member states? In Ireland, there are a group of young farmers who we call the forgotten farmers. The European Court of Auditors have looked over this and seen it going on for years. If one did not have a quota in 2000, 2001 and 2002, then it is their tough luck. Even if the farmer is still under 40, he or she cannot get the single farm payment because he or she has fallen through the cracks. I went to Europe to explain this, and I now know that the European Parliament voted on something before Christmas. However, we have lost young farmers because of that.

Do the witnesses agree that we are moving towards more industrialised farms? If a west of Ireland farmer is getting €4,000 through the single farm payment and another guy in another part of the country is getting €140,000 and a piece of land comes up for sale - we all know that farms have to increase a bit - then we know that the other guy is going to get the land.

The EU has watched over this - so has the Court of Auditors - and allowed it to happen, with report after report. That is the reason for the demise. We need not conduct a big operation of examination on it. What I ask is how much influence can the Court of Auditors bring so that the family farm will be protected. As Deputy Cahill pointed out, how much influence can they bring to bear to ensure that the farmer with 20, 30 or 40 hectares will be looked after? We can have all the reports we want in the world.

The other side of it is, how much has the Court of Auditors done where the likes of the big food joints as wells as the meat factories are dictating the price to the farmer? The farmer in Ireland, and in Europe, is a price taker, not a price maker. This has been watched over by courts of auditors and by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and nothing has been done. The single farm payment was brought in to ensure that people could afford food right throughout Europe. No one has a problem with that. In 1980, if a farmer sold three cattle, he could buy a car. One would need 30 cattle now to buy the same car. That shows the devaluation. We should not scratch our heads and wonder why we have lost the numbers of farmers we have in Ireland but also in Europe. There is a flight from the land. With all the statistics we have looked at there, I ask the members of the Court of Auditors when will someone shout stop. They stated these are political decisions. The buck is passed once again to the political people. While I know it, I did not have to do up a report. I know in my area what went on down through the years. We all know the number of farmers we have lost. What I ask the Court of Auditors is how it, as a body, will rectify this so that the forgotten farmer, including young farmers, will be looked after. How will it ensure that the family farm will be protected, that the EU gives a certain amount of payment and that, as was rightly pointed out earlier on, someone with seven donkeys does not get the payments? We are paying farmers to not farm right around Europe because to get the single farm payment one does not need stock of any type. I believe what we have done is generate hobby farmers who can go and work in America or any part of Europe and still draw the single farm payment. Will that continue to be allowed?

When one talks about young farmers, there was a system brought out - in fairness, by the previous Government - where one could go into farming and do the green certificate at the same time. On the new scheme that has come out now, the Department has stated that Europe said no, one cannot do that and one must have one's green certificate in one's hand. As a result, only 970 young farmers have gone into that scheme.

I agree fully that one needs to make sure young farmers are doing a certain amount of farming. I am not asking them to work morning, noon and night. It is also necessary to provide an incentive for elderly farmers. However, in saying that, and returning to the family farm, where a farmer who was in organics wanted to go into GLAS, which is Pillar 2 funding, the EU ruled that it was double payment it could not give it. At the same time, we can give an 80 or 90 year old farmer the single farm payment as well as plant his land, which will not bring any young farmer in. The Court of Auditors needs to look at all the scenarios. In my opinion, Europe, as well as the Court of Auditors, has failed to ensure that the family farm is protected.

The significant demise in farming is not news for the simple reason that a farmer might say - one should think of what I said about designations - "if my land cannot be farmed to its potential, why would I be getting nothing more?" That is the scenario that has come to pass. Right around Europe the big are getting bigger and the small farmers are being pushed out. I always thought that Europe was not for that but that is what it has done.