Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will make a few comments at the outset. Family farmers - it is a family-farm model that operates predominately in Ireland - operate on an extremely tight margin basis and increases in input prices can put considerable pressure on family farms. However, the sharp hikes that we have seen in fertiliser prices have gone beyond anything that can be managed at an on-farm level. Urea fertiliser prices have increased by 160% in the past 12 months. Calcium ammonium nitrate, CAN, prices have increased by 228%. Supplies are limited and this is having a devastating impact on the grass-based model of farming for which Ireland is renowned. Farmers are crying out for a response and what they are getting in response is nothing from the Government. What we hear today is that they EU and the European Commission intend essentially to do nothing. That is not good enough.

In fact, the EU is adding to the problem by imposing levies on imports of fertilisers from outside of the EU and on top of that, imposing anti-dumping duties of up to €43 per tonne. This is providing the European fertiliser industry with a protection that EU food producers do not have. This fertiliser industry is making substantial profits.

Gas prices have been cited as a cause of the hikes but fertiliser price hikes have been greater than gas price rises and since gas prices have reduced, fertiliser prices have not followed suit. Then we are told that this is a global phenomenon but the truth is that European farmers are paying 16% more at a minimum than their US counterparts.

This committee needs to urge the Government to intervene at an EU level for action. There has to be urgency here. We need action in a matter of days, not months.

Every member of this committee accepts, I think, and agrees with the objectives to reduce the levels of artificial fertiliser use and we have supported initiatives that will allow greater efficiency and greater protection in that regard. The way to do that is not, as has been outlined here today, by essentially forcing farmers out of business through short-term volatile shocks but in partnership with those communities. Therefore, we have to see a sea change and we have to see it incredibly quickly.

I have a number of questions. I might put a couple and if we can get short responses, I might come back in.

My first question is in relation to a Commission response to my colleague, Mr. Chris MacManus MEP, in December that the Commission would carry out a review to see how reducing tariffs on non-EU imports for a limited period would operate. I wonder if our guests could give us the status of that review and when it is expected to be finished.

Perhaps we could also get clarification as to what has been done to date in order to bring about a reduction in the cost of fertiliser. In other words, what specifics does the EU Commission propose that will see the cost of fertiliser coming onto farms in Ireland reduce, in particular, in the medium and short term?