Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is a hard act to follow and I will not attempt to but I agree with much of what Deputy Penrose and my other colleagues said. I have a couple of questions but probably will not get the answers. Banks, and any business which is run in a similar fashion to a bank, have their finger on the pulse at all times, with flowcharts or predictions. The witnesses can touch a few buttons on a computer in any one of their respective offices and be able to answer all my questions. There is no doubt but that they have the information but the question is whether they will give it to me. We are here specifically to discuss the fodder crisis or the drought this year. What extent of restructuring of existing loans have the banks done? The witnesses have told us what they will do, what is available and what they will give to people who find themselves coming into crisis now. They probably have the figures in front of them. How much restructuring has happened already where people who had loans prior to last winter have defaulted or are potential defaulters or will not be able to meet the conditions set out? What amount of restructuring has to go on? What are the witnesses predicting for the back end of the year? Where there is cashflow in the dairy sector, loans might be paid numerous times over a year. If one is a suckler herder or a beef man, one probably has whatever loans one has structured for payments twice or perhaps even once a year. This is most likely to be in October or November when a single farm payment comes in or when one is selling one's beef or weanlings. What predictions will the banks make about what difficulties might arise this October, when the single farm payment comes in but which will go out every bit as quickly in paying debts that have built up since the end of the fodder crisis and before the drought crisis?

At this stage, the witnesses probably will be able to predict or know the demand for stocking loans. It has been mooted here today and is in the public domain that, as part of the current crisis, many fatteners will not fatten this winter and possibly will sell their feed to dairy men. They might see a little more profit in that, rather than feeding cattle. The witnesses know at this stage what the demand is compared with previous years for stocking loans from those individual fatteners who deal with the bank once a year to buy their cattle. They fatten them, pay the bank back and move on to the following year. The witnesses have all painted a picture of a positive long-term outlook but I would like to hear what they are thinking in the short term. What is in it for banks to give money to many people who, while they would take it with open arms in the morning, would realistically tell one once they got out the door that they do not know how they will ever pay it back? It cannot all be rosy and positive. Will the witnesses give a few facts and figures? They know better than we do. That is all on their computers but will they share it with us?