Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Seán Haughey for his contribution. Next week the committee will consider the subsidiarity report of the task force established to examine whether changes were needed. Has the Government considered the report and, if so, what is its position on it?

There are many other issues of importance to people in Ireland. I am sure the Minister of State is acutely aware of the alarming decrease in the value of beef, to which I attributed to people going north for beef, but it has since dried up. According to reports I received last Thursday and Saturday from various marts in my county, the prices being paid are shocking at a time when farmers are in desperate need of an income to pay for winter fodder. Farmers are really concerned about the future. There are other contributory factors. While the good weather during the summer was welcome, it has resulted in problems for the farming sector. I attended a meeting earlier today of IFA representatives from all around the country. Many of those who made presentations raised similar issues of concern about the forthcoming budget and, in particular, the impact of Brexit on the farming sector. As the Minister of State will be aware, the farmers of Ireland are very resilient and always up for a challenge, but there are only so many fights one can fight. When one is surrounded at all corners, it is harder to fight. At this time of year many in the farming community are trying to sell weanlings to have income for the winter. For those with suckler cows, this is their time to make hay, but the prices they are receiving at marts are abysmal. Prices are on the floor and farmers are losing on each animal they sell. Keeping them is not an option because farmers need an income. Also, the cost of keeping animals inside for the winter in terms of the cost of feed and so on would be problematic. I consider myself to be an optimistic, rather than a pessimist, but I do not see how prices can improve. Previously buyers from the North came South to buy animals, but that is no longer happening. If there are only a couple of buyers at the mart, it is a buyer's market. That is what is happening to farmers. If this is happening before we have exhausted the Brexit negotiations and have any knowledge of where the deck of cards will lie and so on, I am fearful for the future of the farming sector. I acknowledge that it is only one sector of Irish society, but I am speaking about it because it is to the fore of my mind following the excellent presentations other members and I heard earlier during the meeting with the IFA. I am not sure if the Minister of State attended the meeting. The sector is in crisis even before the Brexit negotiations conclude and we have a plan, or we do not. We are in uncharted waters and to say we are worried is an under-statement. The tourism sector will also be impacted on.

The Government is putting the final touches to the budget. The 9% VAT rate put in place by the then Government in 2011 or 2012 was hugely important to the hospitality sector in my county.

I give full credit to the former Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, who at the time had the imagination and the foresight to see that it was the lifeline we required in the sector. It did work, but we have two hospitality sectors in the country, namely, the major cities and the rest of the country. One can compare the prices that are being charged in cities such as Dublin to what is charged in the rest of the country, in particular in rural areas, where they are much more reasonable and not extortionate. We are worried about the effect of Brexit on the sector, in addition to a possible change in the 9% VAT rate which might be imminent in the forthcoming budget, combined with the worry we have concerning English visitors who were always welcomed by the hospitality sector and who mean so much to it. We do not want it to be considered a them and us type of situation. They are our nearest neighbours and whether they were from Wales, Scotland or England, we appreciated their custom in spending their hard-earned money coming here on holidays. We were always pleased to have them and to welcome them here. We always felt they appreciated their time here with us but the current message is that tourism from those areas could be affected by Brexit and the associated currency difficulties. Those are some of the hot topics I consider to be facing us.

I invite Senator Craughwell to make a contribution before the Minister of State wraps up.