Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the agricultural cash flow support loan scheme, Mr. Ashmore said, "Demand for this support was so strong that it reached capacity within weeks of its launch – far ahead of our expectations." In the Dáil Chamber I told the Minister that the €145 million being put in place for below-cost capital loans would not be nearly sufficient to meet demand. That shows the pent-up frustration in the industry at the absence of money at a low cost. Once a loan was made available that frustration was evident and the scheme closed in a matter of weeks.

While the banks were partners in the scheme they were never really happy with it. The first problem was that the maximum length of the loan was to be six years. There was a concerted attempt to make it as short as possible. One of the pillar banks gave stocking loans for this agricash flow which was not the purpose of the scheme.

The other drawback was that those farmers who needed it the most, the ones in serious financial difficulties, definitely did not get access to it as well. The door was closed and they were told the scheme was oversubscribed. It was a good initiative but the demand just shows the frustration at the cost of credit. The other speakers have referred to the cost of overdraft and farmers' reluctance to go to the banks to sort out their cash flow problems. It is very hard to comprehend how the banks can say they do not see evidence of cash flow difficulties on farms at the moment because up to two or three days ago dairy cows were being fed the same amount of concentrate they would normally be fed in February. The level of its use this spring is double what it would normally be. We are almost at the middle of May and cows are still being fed significant levels of concentrates. There is tillage ground not yet sown and that will bring its problems as we go into the back end of the year.

The cash flow problems that arise with the volatility in pricing and our taxation system mean that invariably, as has happened in the past couple of years, we have a high tax bill in a year when income is down. Do the banks have any view on a system that would relieve that pressure on cash flow? I am not blaming the banks for the volatility in pricing, although I might blame them for a lot of other things. In the dairy sector, for example, in 2017 there were relatively reasonable prices for milk but this year it will be down between 5 cent and 7 cent a litre with the increased costs. In October there will be a very high tax bill to be paid. Have the witnesses any idea how to get around that?