Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to engage with the Minister in advance of the budget.

I want to ask for increased support in the budget for the development of the sports horse industry. It has great potential to generate business in rural areas where we are looking for ideas to retain communities. There is already significant interest in sports horses. I believe some plans have been presented to the Minister and funds will be needed to assist in those. I hope we will see something that would be meaningful for local economies in rural Ireland develop from that.

In order to ensure genetic diversity in Irish rare breeds in accordance with our EU obligations, there are complaints from the Irish Rare Breeds Society that the support it has received from the Department is minimal, not meaningful and not impactful. What is the Minister looking for in this budget for them? What is his view on supporting them further?

My biggest concern here today is the suckler cow. I know the Minister wants to support the beef sector and the suckler farmers. I acknowledge the measures that are there, the beef data and genomics scheme, the establishment of the beef producer organisations, all the new markets the Minister has worked towards opening, alongside Bord Bia and all the other measures that help. The truth is, notwithstanding all the efforts, morale is very low among suckler cow farmers. In the west and north-west, where I am located, we have not had the worst of the weather this summer, in fact we probably had the best of the weather, a combination of sun and rain and we do not have the fodder problem. Over the past few years, however, we have been battling an extended winter every year. We have had fodder shortages and the fodder crisis last year. There are pressures on slurry storage and spreading, poor factory prices and poor prices at the mart. We also have cash flow problems. Brexit, Mercosur, and climate action measures will be laid upon farmers, including the threat hanging over them of a carbon tax.. There is evidence to be concerned about the sustainability of the suckler cow herd's future and, unless there is intervention right now, there will be problems in the future. The farming organisations have been ventilating the situation of these farmers. From what I can see, and to judge from the figures produced by the farmers I have met and their personal situations, they are making little or no money or are losing money and if they did not get other farm payments they would be in a desperate situation. This is backed up by the Department's Food Wise 2015 beef group which is recommending further supports for sucklers and I would support this also.

When I talk about farmers setting out their income an example is the farmer showing me that it costs him €900 a year to keep his suckler cow yet when he sells the calf he gets €850. I do not know why or how anybody would or could sustain that. Reality will bite. The reality is that farming is a vocation and while the older and more mature farmer may stick with the vocation to the end, the younger generation may not. I know the Minister says we need to encourage younger farmers, whether in respect of land mobility or otherwise but in another case, a suckler cow farmer who has 80 head of cattle contacted me; his son is 30 years old and is very interested in and loves farming. He bought an old house for €60,000 which he needs to do up. He went to the bank where he was more or less laughed at. The bank told him he would not get a cent based on any of his accounts. He has a trade and was told to go back to his trade because that would be the only way he could ever hope to get a mortgage or to build any future for himself. There is no future in that suckler cow farm the way he sees it now. Unless farmers have other work there is no great incentive for them.

The day will come when younger people walk away from this because they have had more education opportunities and have better options. That does not suit us or our country. It is no secret that the average age of farmers, especially suckler cow farmers, is quite high. If the young farmers do not take up the baton the suckler cow numbers will plummet. I am not being alarmist, all the facts are stacking up towards this. I know the Minister wants to support the beef sector but I believe that if this happens and the suckler cow herd plummets, where I live in the west and north-west will be unrecognisable. In the west 81% of cows are suckler cows. I think in Mayo they account for 84%, in Roscommon and Leitrim, 93%. That is from a report conducted by the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, and the National University of Ireland Cork, NUIC. The suckler cow is the basic production machine for a vast industry, not only are we getting traceable quality and affordable food but if the numbers drop from the percentages that I have quoted we can forget about the meat factories, the marts, the merchants in my area, the vets, and all the spin-off industries from the suckler cow. I welcome payments on the areas of natural constraint, ANC, and the increase, which is very important but dairy people get that same payment. What is needed at this juncture is a targeted payment in this budget. We have to be realistic about the Common Agricultural Policy and look forward. I know the Minister has talked about the constraints and the challenges and that he is fighting with the Commissioner, Phil Hogan and the whole of Government but we need a targeted payment in the budget recognising the pressures the suckler cow farmer is under, which are well documented, but also the significance and importance of the suckler cow. It is absolutely critical where I am from. I am in no doubt about it. We can talk about towns and villages and all the rest, but the fabric of rural Ireland is the suckler cow and it is critical that there is action to support the farmers. At the very least a signal should be given in this budget that there is hope and that they fit into the bigger scheme. This is a critical, pivotal time for the suckler cow farmer. Notwithstanding any campaigns that farm organisations run, again and again people tell me their stories of sons and daughters and their own circumstances and they are fed up. They are not people fighting with me about Government. We need to act because there is an awful lot at stake here.