Mr. Eamon Corley:

The Beef Plan Movement has been in existence for only six months. The reason we are here is that, even though the beef industry is the most profitable in the country and even though there are many stakeholders in the industry, including the retailers, food service sector, manufacturers, factories, Bord Bia and the ICBF, the reality is that beef farmers are slaves on their own farms. The treatment they are getting is nothing short of abuse. People will look back at this era and say that the beef farmers of this country were abused. That is why they have come together to form the Beef Plan Movement. They have taken matters into their own hands and are saying enough is enough and that they have to fight what is happening and fight for their survival.

Many witnesses have appeared before this committee and borrowed our ideas. We have put a plan together for beef farmers. Many of the ideas were mentioned at the previous hearing and again today but the true authors of the ideas are the people we represent, namely, the farmers we have met throughout the country. What has happened is that farmers have lost all power. Rural Ireland depends on beef farmers. Such farmers are rural Ireland. If we can do nothing else, we can take it step by step and give the power back to beef farmers and ensure that rural Ireland survives.

We have got a decision to make. First, we have to realise there is a problem, second, we have to identify it and, third, we must have the conviction and courage to deal with it. The first issue is that the current pricing system does not work for beef farmers. We are not going to accept that any longer. Retailers, the food service industry and manufacturers set the price for the meat factories. The latter then take their margin and pass back the scraps beef farmers. For the past few years, those scraps have meant we have been getting loss-making prices that do not meet our cost of production. That must not continue. It is in nobody's interest that it do so.

The people who represent the meat industry tell us that there is a free market and that they cannot do anything about it. However, it is not a free market; it is a manipulated market. It is manipulated for many reasons. In this country, there is a cartel. There is a dominant player that dictates the price to everybody else. The meat industry will tell us that there is a free market. The Irish Farmers' Journallists the quoted prices for farmers. Right down the list, the figure is €3.70. The industry will urge one to look at the next part, namely, the Department-listed prices, and will state that there is a difference. There is a difference because there are contracted factory feedlots getting more and contracted Hereford and Angus schemes getting more. The ordinary farmer who goes in on his own gets the €3.70 the whole way down the line. That is a cartel; it is price-fixing. Let us face up to that fact.

Let us talk about a solution to the problem. Let us talk about the retailer, the processor and the factory getting together and sharing out the retail price in a proportionate manner such that the suckler farmer can get a margin on top of the cost of production. That has to happen or the industry will be gone. We need legislation to ensure that it happens. The meat factories, retailers and people in power, including the corporates, have put us farmers where we are, that is, on the brink of extinction. Our share should be factored into the retail price.

What else has driven us to this position? There are anti-competitive practices. In our view, there are at least seven anti-competitive practices that have left us in the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We must address them as part of the solution. These practices are: the four-movements rule; the 70-day retention period in order to collect QPS bonus; the movement rule for category 1 waste; the feedlots; processor access to our data; the age limits; and the nomad rule.

Exports are a solution to this problem. At present, there is not enough lairage space in Cherbourg for our calves. We have to solve that. There is a problem with visas in this country. The visas of exporters coming in to buy cattle are held up for moths. Let us segregate and give them priority so this does not happen again. We need an export subsidy for weanlings in this country. Let us make it €100 per head. Let us get weanlings out of this country and create some competition. We need a review of the grid. We need branding. We need a proper brand for suckler-bred, grass-fed beef and for grass-fed, dairy-bred beef. The one thing the marketeers have told us is that we need consistency in the beef coming out of our factories. We have not got that. Carbon emissions are a significant aspect. The suckler animal is a very carbon-efficient animal. We need clarity on labelling. We need consumer education and the consumer specifications to match what the consumer needs.

A blockchain can help us. Basically, a barcode attaches to the food produce and the origin of the meat can be traced fully. We need farmers co-ops and we need the stakeholders to build into them in order that we can sell directly from the farmer to the consumer. We need the PGI status that Commissioner Hogan has praised. Some of the factories are not in favour of this. It is important because the suckler-brand beef cannot be diluted and we can get the premium we deserve.

We also need producer groups but we need the existing legislation to be changed a little in order that they can work for farmers. We need new markets for our cattle.There are 12 pending CNC licences to mainland China. We need them approved. China is a huge market. It does not want factory feedlot cattle. It wants grass-fed beef from family farms with high air and water quality. That is what we have in Ireland.

We need transparency regarding the price the processor gets for beef.Currently, there is none. We need transparency on the factory floor. There need to be a farmer representative in place who will work the same hours that the staff of a particular factory work. He would be on the floor 100% of the time and would be able to see the grading of the cattle and trimming. He would also be able to see the weights and TB samples such that everything would be above board. We also need transparency on the levels, insurance, etc. We need stakeholder accountability. There are many boards representing farmers but very few beef representatives on those boards. We need that corrected.

Consider the farmer view, to which Mr. Hugh Doyle will refer. We have surveyed over 2,000 farmers. Mr. Doyle has figures that will shock members. There are threats in the industry. There is a lack of profitability. Issues that arise are dairy expansion, Brexit, the growth of veganism and reduced caps. I have mentioned problems and solutions. We should scrap the four-movements rule, the 70-day residency rule for QPS payment, and the 125 km rule on the movement of category 1 waste. If we were to build some extra lairage and provide an export subsidy for weanlings, we would be taking achievable steps that would improve our situation.

The first thing we have to do is acknowledge that there is a problem. Then we have to identify and solve it. My question for members is whether they have the strength and courage to solve this problem. If they do not, perhaps they should consider moving aside and letting in individuals who do.