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

It holds the water well and that means we continue to have growth. Even though we did not have a great deal of rain, we had a lot more than other areas. As the Chairman pointed out, what is traditionally the most productive part of the country is the part that is suffering currently. The solution to this will have to be getting feed and fodder in from abroad to some extent, as well as long-term planning. We need to plan for this if we expect that these changes are going to happen. We have seen over the past five or six years that the change in climate has generally been about more rainfall over a longer period of time, with a wetter harvest or wetter spring and farmers unable to get as much pasture or fodder as a result. This is a unique situation and we hope it does not return every year even though people like hot summers.

A drainage scheme would resolve this in the areas that usually have that problem. If a scheme was put in place, particularly on marginal land in the north west, we would extend the pasture period, get more land into meadow and get more forage from it. That would help in the future. It might appear to be the reverse of where the problem is now but that part of the country is usually the area where we encounter this problem.

It is essential that farmers can secure finance at a keen and proper rate. My big gripe with the banks is that they are borrowing money from the European Central Bank at the same rate as every other bank across Europe yet they are charging three and four times the level of interest. That applies to everyone, including farmers and everybody who has a mortgage. It is daylight robbery and something must be done about it. It is not this committee's job to do something about it but there must be a recognition nationally that we have a problem with our banking sector. It is screwing the public and must be held to account for it. Unfortunately, the Government has not held the banks to account. That must happen, and quickly, because it is a problem not only for agriculture but for every other sector, including the possibility of developing an innovative sector that will hopefully bring rural Ireland back to life.

Is the Minister prepared to buy the fodder farmers need? Is he prepared to ensure that a scheme is put in place, be it through vouchers or otherwise, to get feed to farmers who need it quickly so they know they can keep their stocking rates up? Many farmers are in a position where they will sell their cattle quickly and not keep them because they do not have the fodder for them. The problem in my part of the country is that the farmers are now producing weanlings and nobody is buying them. The weanlings were traditionally fattened in the midlands and the south east and those farmers will have little or no fodder for the winter. There will be a crisis there as well as the prices are going to fall hugely. We are faced with a crisis and there must be a long-term solution to it. There also must be a means of dealing with the immediate problem.