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

I also apologise for not being here for the introductions. All of the delegates are welcome.

I am very conscious that the ultimate problem farmers face in most cases is that margins are tight and that when farmers have a problem, it is also a problem for their banks. They may find it difficult to meet repayments, etc. When I was 18 or 19 years old, I borrowed money from AIB to build mushroom tunnels. At the time the interest rate was 17.5%. It was so high because I did not have a record with the bank. The notion within banking, that if someone is struggling, he or she will be hit with a penalty, thus making things worse for him or her, is often spoken about by farmers. Help is hardest to find when it is needed most.

It is clear from the presentations we have heard that a large volume of business with the banks is done with the agrifood sector. The banks do well from this business. There is, in times of difficulty, an onus on the banking sector to step up to the mark and support farmers. That support will be repaid in multiples because farms are long-term businesses, extending for several generations, which are usually very loyal to their banks, provided they work with them. We are coming out of a financial crisis and we are not going to get into a fight about how it occurred, but there has to be a recognition that the agrifood sector has been to the fore in helping the recovery to happen, from which the banks have benefited.

I have a bee in my bonnet about the interest rates being charged. At times the Government has to intervene and leverage various schemes to lower interest rates, which are still not as low as those charged by the standard banks across the European Union. I know that people from the various banking institutions have appeared before the committee and provided all sorts of excuse, saying Ireland has a different market and that a different model is used, but it is clear to everybody looking at this issue that the money comes from the same place and at the same rate. It comes from the European Central Bank at a low rate, yet the lending rate in Ireland is much higher. I am sure it is acknowledged in private conversations that this is done to fund the recovery from the disaster that happened and that it has nothing to do with different markets and different models being used. It should be acknowledged that Irish businesses and householders, including mortgage holders, are paying a price for what happened in the past. We need to put a plan in place to change this. A way to do it is to start by lending money, particularly to the agrifood sector which has been so good to the banking sector in assisting with its recovery, at the interest rates available in other countries across Europe. That could be done and there is nothing to stop it from happening. I suggest the banking institutions and the Government need to consider this carefully.

We need to put something in place such that our financial services sector actually services our businesses, rather than the other way around as has been the case up to now.